High Desert Digest

Presidents' Day

2011-02-21T07:56:00.000-08:00

Today we are observing what has come to be called Presi-dents’ Day. Upon election, a president assumes a unique position in American society. As the political head of our nation, he becomes the em-bodiment, both here and abroad, of who and what we are. Below are a few thoughts on the fundamental attributes any and every president should have.

He, above all others, must possess an unalloyed love of country. He, above all others, must possess an unshakeable belief in our country’s founding principles and ideals. He, above all others, must maintain an unblinking vigil against encroaching threats, domestic and foreign, that would jeopardize our safety and our precious way of life. For he, above all others, is our nation’s foremost patriot, promoter and protector.

No man or woman is fit to serve as president of the United States, no matter what other credentials or qualifications they may possess, if they are not prepared to defend and perpetuate at all cost America’s core beliefs and values. America must have presidents who believe unequivocally in America. We have no need for doubters or apologizers in the White House. A president’s faith must be thoroughly and securely anchored in Americanism, not alien ideologies like socialism, communism or globalism.

Over the years, since the founding of our nation, we have had a small number of phenomenal presidents, a great many good or adequate ones, and a few whose conduct and performance were reprehensible and disappointing, not to mention corrosive and destructive. I don’t think I need to tell you that at this critical juncture in our country’s history we can ill afford to have more of the latter class. We as voters must begin demanding and getting presidents who will inspire and motivate us to meet our nation’s current challenges without forsaking the principles that made us great. We should have no interest in anyone who is willing to settle for second best in world affairs. We should have no interest in anyone whose vision is so narrow and limited that he can offer us no road but the low road.

On this Presidents’ Day, I urge all who read this to become much more attentive and thoughtful in choosing our presidents. Please take the time to thoroughly investigate the background of each candidate. Hold them to the very highest standards of moral conduct, for in as much as we have set aside a day to honor our presidents, let us vow, here and now, to nominate and elect only those among us who are deserving of our deepest admiration.

I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph. --Theodore Roosevelt

Dangerous Radicals

2011-01-20T07:40:00.000-08:00

Liberals view most true conservatives as dangerous radi-cals. We see it everyday in the way they respond to what sincere con-servatives say and do. But I would like to suggest that liberals are being narrow-minded rather than liberal-minded when they think that way. After all, is demanding that presidents and lawmakers adhere to the principles of government as set forth in the Constitution really all that radical? Is the rhetoric and actions of those who are determined to preserve our Constitutional freedoms any more radical than that of those who are determined to abolish them?

The problem is that liberals control the media. Therefore, they can suppress negative information and opinions about themselves while shouting from the roof tops the real or imagined inadequacies and failures of conservatives. So little by little they are placing the blame for all our nation’s woes on conservatives. And in doing so, they are hoping to vilify conservatives and turn every gullible and inattentive citizen against them.

And yet, what are conservatives, true conservatives, really trying to do but preserve some of our inalienable human rights, our God-given rights. They just want our fundamental rights as human beings to be acknowledged, respected and preserved by our government. They are not willing, as some Americans are, to exchange inalienable rights for mere government “entitlements,” for they are fully aware that what the government gives them on one day may be withdrawn on another, and likely will be. But they know the rights their Creator endowed them with at birth are theirs to keep, and no earthly government may lawfully take them away.

Now let’s examine how liberals look at things. What do they keep offering us as solutions to our social and economic problems? What always lies at the bottom of their plans? If you don’t know already, I’ll tell you. Their solutions always entail taking away a right here and a right there, all in the sacred name of making every American, even those who refuse to lift a hand to improve their lot in life, equal.

An example: What is ObamaCare but a surreptitious power grab? It shifts massive amounts of power away from the people and places it in the hands of the federal government. ObamaCare isn’t about making health care more affordable or accessible to Americans, it’s about redistributing power. ObamaCare is simply a ruse to divert attention away from the true goal of liberals, which is to keep stripping Americans of their Constitutional rights until they are all gone. ObamaCare is merely a means to an end, not a sincere effort to improve the quality of life in America.

But in order to prevent people from seeing through this ruse, liberals must discredit anyone who is shedding light on their nefarious plans, especially those who are making a good case against them. That essentially is why our nation’s most popular and influential conservatives are being incessantly harassed and attacked by the liberal media and portrayed as dangerous radicals, people to be wary of, people to be feared.

Try to see this from the standpoint of a liberal. Liberals know that if a true appreciation of our heritage can be reignited in this country, it will mean that all the headway they have gained over these many years will be lost. Therefore, with the growing popularity of such grassroots movements as the Tea Party, expect to see the liberal media turning up the heat on anyone who is attempting to advance the cause of freedom. These bold patriots are voluntarily placing themselves in a highly vulnerable spot. We need to encourage them and support them, for they are the ones the opposition must knock down and push aside if this growing surge of conservatism is to be stopped in its tracks.

A few closing words: We Americans are fortunate. We have a written agreement with our government, something few human beings on this earth possess. It is called the Constitution. It imposes strict limits upon the power our government may lawfully exert over the us.

Please assist in any way you can all those who are at the forefront in the fight to save our Constitution and nation. They are daily putting their reputations and livelihoods at risk as they bravely engage in the dangerous task of unmasking and neutralizing some of our country’s most deceitful, influential and ruthless opponents of freedom.

Photo: Judge Andrew P. Napolitano. You may visit his website at www.judgenap.com

North Pole Working Conditions: Exposed!

2010-12-24T06:16:00.000-08:00

Call me a Scrooge if you like, but I feel compelled to ex-press in writing my displeasure, if not outright disgust, over a song that gets a good deal of favor-able attention during the holiday season, attention I believe is unwarranted.

You’ve undoubtedly heard the song. It’s called “Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

In my opinion this dubious holiday favorite sends, especially to our innocent and impressionable children, a number of highly damaging messages. First of all, it singles out a member of a group because he was different, different in a way he apparently couldn’t help. Then it describes in graphic detail how he was rejected and boisterously ridiculed by other members of the group, a group employed by, of all people, Santa Claus!

I ask you, shouldn’t Old Saint Nick have been keeping a closer eye out for unacceptable behavior among his paid staff? After all, here is a man, or so we are told, who checks up on every child in the world to see if they’ve been good or bad, but then neglects to check on the day-to-day behavior of his own reindeer. Don’t employers have a moral and legal obligation to see to it that harassment in any form or guise never enters the workplace? I thought Santa was the head guy at the North Pole, the man ultimately responsible for controlling employee behavior there? If this song is true, it would appear that he’s not everything he’s cracked up to be.

And then, as if that wasn’t enough, when Santa called upon Rudolph to carry out a task none of the others were equipped to handle, suddenly Rudolph’s supercilious co-workers “loved him.” And the blatant hypocrisy didn’t end there. The song goes on to say that they made wildly effusive and insincere predictions about his future, some sappy remarks about how he was going to go “down in history.”

And why do you suppose the other reindeer had this sudden change of heart? Well let’s be candid. In all likelihood it was for no reason other than to save their cushy jobs, a job that required them to pull a sleigh just one night a year. They doubtless reversed their position simply because they didn’t want Santa to lay them off now that it was apparent that the whole miserable lot of them, with the exception of one, was lacking a vital all-weather night-flying component--a shiny red nose.

So now do you see why I object so strenuously to this mindless melody? All the deeper issues are never even touched upon, and in the end there’s this so-called happy ending. But in actuality there’s nothing happy about it. Everything is just left unresolved!

A dispassionate examination of the facts reveals, I think, a more likely and far darker outcome. Rudolph had been abused and traumatized for quite some time. He obviously had developed deep seated feelings of inadequacy. Quite likely he never felt worthy of the confidence Santa suddenly placed in him on that foggy Christmas Eve, or the fame it brought to him. If he wasn’t already drinking heavily, as his nose suggests he might have been, it is my guess that he ultimately turned to alcohol and died in obscurity.

But an even larger issue here is whether Santa Claus ever learned the vital lessons one must learn in order to be a good and capable employer, lessons like always making sure that employees who are different are never singled out and cruelly victimized by thoughtless co-workers.

Because if Santa failed to learn and implement those lessons, and we really have no way of knowing whether he did or didn’t, aren’t the doubts this song places in the minds of small children going to be deeply disturbing? Aren’t their tender little minds going to be needlessly tormented with nagging suspicions about the true nature and character of one of the world’s most beloved and venerable characters?

But hey, don’t get me wrong. I’m only trying to apply a little objectivity to this whole tragic and shameful affair.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Free Federal Money

2010-12-12T05:29:00.000-08:00

The ability to acquire and dispense federal funds to their home state has become a power-ful advantage to congressional incumbents seeking re-election. We recently witnessed that first-hand right here in Nevada in the tightly contested senate race between Sharron Angle and incumbent Harry Reid.

Members of congress, if they wish to do so, can portray themselves as irreplaceable philanthropists and benefactors, indispensable conduits through which “free” federal money flows to their largely helpless and needy constituents. By playing upon our fears, these crafty politicians can lead us into believing that the world would come to a swift and dreadful end if they were not re-elected.

But let’s take a look at what “free” federal money consists of and what it is doing to us besides making false gods of some of our more wily and unscrupulous politicians.

Simply put, federal money is tax dollars combined with borrowed money. The borrowed portion comes principally from foreign countries, the most prominent being China. The tax portion comes for the most part from ordinary American citizens like you and me.

So what is our growing dependence on federal money doing to us? There actually are a number of things, but here’s one to consider: It is inexorably expanding the power of the federal government while diminishing the power of the state governments.

Think about it. Money is power. So when money generated in Nevada by Nevadans is taken out of Nevada and sent to Washington, only to come back several dollars short and with strings attached, who do you think is winning and who do you think is losing?

Perhaps it’s time Nevadans and Americans in general gave some serious thought to this country’s history. In the beginning there were 13 states. Representatives of those 13 states met together to form a federal government. That’s a key point to remember. I’ll repeat it: The states formed the federal government. It wasn’t the other way around.

So why have the states now become secondary entities, entities that must depend for their survival upon the “generosity” of the federal government and the money brokering skills of their most senior members of congress? Isn’t there something inherently wrong with this arrangement, an arrangement whereby the creature, the federal government, is steadily gaining control over its creators, the states?

If we’re going to get things back to the way they were intended to be in this country, we as individual citizens must clear the fog out of our heads and return to some fundamental principles, and I emphasize the word fundamental.

A few suggestions: If you’re not already one, become a responsible and productive citizen. Don’t expect the federal government to do anything for you that you can do for yourself, even if it will temporarily put a hardship on you. Don’t blame others for your problems. Live within your means, and in your every word and deed demonstrate to your children and grandchildren why that course of action ultimately will yield a greater degree of security for themselves and the nation as a whole than living recklessly will.

And most importantly, begin urging your state and local leaders to start saying no to federal dollars. They’re not worth what we’re exchanging for them: Our precious Constitutional rights and liberties.

Be advised that any and all attempts by the federal government to redistribute wealth in this country carry within them the additional side effect of redistributing power. If we want our system of government to continue having the vital checks and balances provided by the Constitution, we must at some point reverse this dangerous political trend.

The system that has evolved subtly over the past 6 or 7 decades is a degraded and degrading version of what the Founders gave us. Contrary to what some in Washington are telling us, there is nothing beneficial about an arrangement that places the states and their citizens in a position of dependency in relation to the federal government. And if this trend is permitted to continue, the 50 sovereign states soon will become nothing more than regional subdivisions of the federal government.

Then all the eggs, or I should say all the political power, will be in one basket, an idea that once was considered to be a bad one.

If you think it still is, please start speaking up!

The Hero of BB-36

2010-12-07T12:59:00.000-08:00

Joseph K. Taussig, Jr. (U.S. Naval Academy, class of '41) received the Navy Cross for heroism on board USS Nevada (BB-36) at Pearl Harbor. He was perhaps best known as the officer of the deck aboard Nevada when Japanese planes attacked “Battleship Row” on 7 December 1941. Fourteen bombs hit Nevada that day; 43 people were killed and 118 wounded.

After sounding the alert on his ship, the 21-year-old ensign manned a starboard anti-aircraft gun and refused to leave his post after taking a hit to his left leg. In his own words, “I was directing fire at the outset of the attack when I don't know what hit me, something went completely through my thigh. They ordered a cot for me, and I just continued to control the gun batteries. Some enlisted men brought a stretcher and I stayed up there until the (ship's) whole structure caught fire. They brought me down through the fire. The Navy said I was decorated because I refused to leave my post.”

“This is a direct order,” the ensign said to BM1 Bob Norman, who was trying to carry him away to safety. “Leave me alone!” “I'm sorry sir,” replied Norman, “but this is one order I'm going to have to disobey.”

Facing a fire that severely damaged the ship, Taussig resisted but was forcefully carried below decks by his shipmates where he was treated for his injuries. Besides receiving the Navy Cross, the Navy's second highest award for valor following the Medal of Honor in precedence, Taussig was also awarded the Purple Heart.

He stayed in several hospitals until April 1946, when his left leg was amputated. He returned to active duty three days later. By the time he finally retired from active naval service in 1954 he was, at age 34, the youngest captain in the Navy.

Reprinted from www.navsource.org

Thanksgiving Proclamation

2010-11-24T16:24:00.000-08:00

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their Joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanks-giving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th. day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the greatest degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executived and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

(signed George Washington)

Thirteen Trillion And Growing

2010-10-30T11:54:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it is useful to compare one thing with other things in order to get a grasp of it’s true size. So let’s compare some numbers.

The circumference of earth is 24,902 miles. The distance between the moon and the earth is 238,857 miles. The distance between the sun and the earth is 92,935,700 miles. The distance between the sun and Pluto, the most distant planet in the solar system, is 3,670,052,070 miles.

But get a load of this. The U.S. national debt is approaching $13,700,000,000,000--and is still growing! That's a huge number, an almost unfathomable number, a number that exceeds even the physical dimensions of our solar system.

So what do we learn from this? We learn that God was nowhere near as expansive and extravagant in creating the earth and the solar system as congress has been in creating a bigger government and national debt.

Furthermore, God knew when to stop. When He was finished, He pronounced His work “good,” and He rested.

When will congress be satisfied with the size of its dreadful and disordered creation? When will it stop and rest?

God only knows.

A Pre-Election Review of Fundamentals

2010-10-22T16:09:00.000-07:00

We are a fortunate people. We inherited from our ancestors a free coun-try. But freedom permits us to make choices, and if we make a series of bad ones, or allow our leaders to, we can lose what we inherited.

In a totalitarian regime the government makes all the major decisions regarding human conduct. The people make few or none. In one sense it is an easy life. A citizen hardly has to think. He just has to do as he is told.

In a free country, however, it’s different. In a free country the people have important individual responsibilities to carry out. They must think and plan for themselves. And that can be hard work, work that requires intelligence, courage, discipline and determination.

But if one makes prudent choices and plans well, the work, effort and sacrifice can ultimately yield enormous dividends. And not just in money alone, for men and women need more than money to make their lives satisfying and complete. They need to feel that they are personally accomplishing something. I think that is what the Founders were referring to when they proclaimed that among man’s inherent rights was the right to pursue happiness. Or in other words, the right to seek contentment and fulfillment.

So what are some of the responsibilities free men and women must bear in a free society? First among those responsibilities is the duty to take care of one’s self. Free men and women must be self-reliant. After all, how can anyone expect to be free if he or she is partially or wholly dependent upon someone else?

Furthermore, in America we the people govern ourselves. Ours is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. The people are an integral and indispensable part of our governmental apparatus. When we voluntarily take ourselves out of that apparatus, or permit our political leaders to ignore us or bypass us, the very substance and form of government are significantly altered, which creates a serious imbalance of power, an imbalance that greatly favors government officials and bureaucrats.

If we wish to remain free and preserve our priceless heritage, it is absolutely imperative that we stop neglecting our constitutional role in the government. We must get involved again, deeply and intensely involved, which will mean a substantial reordering of our personal priorities. On occasion we may even have to make some sacrifices--like the Founders and our ancestors did.

Additionally, we must become much better informed. We have to be able to separate the real issues from the imaginary and contrived ones. We have to start providing some meaningful guidance to our public servants, servants who have demonstrated that they cannot be left unsupervised for even short periods of time. This goes for presidents as well as for most members of congress. All have shown us that they require a firm hand to keep them on track, and we must provide it.

Over the past several decades, a long string of highly detrimental federal laws and regulations were conjured up and enacted by our so-called representatives in Washington. These largely unconstitutional orders and edicts now are bearing their noxious fruit, and are creating a suppressive atmosphere wherein it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for even the most honest and willing among us to earn an adequate livelihood. Or even to hold on to what they’ve already acquired. This has led to a deep sense of frustration among the working middle class, who more and more are seeing themselves being squeezed out of existence.

So what does all this add up to? Simply this: Americans with drive and ambition are being denied a fundamental and inherent human right--the right to pursue happiness. The government has so poisoned the economic environment in this country that working Americans no longer can feel confident that their careful planning and hard work will improve their lot in life.

My friends, while we still can, we must resume our rightful place in the government. Freedom is about choices, and we need to start making better ones as individuals and as citizens. This election is no ordinary election. It is not just about electing candidates. It’s about electing candidates who support the Constitution, and dismissing those who don’t. In a very real sense it’s about choosing between a constitutional government and an oligarchy. It’s about choosing between a government of the people or a government of the few.

I don’t think it’s too strong to say that this November 2nd will either be the beginning of a fresh start in America or the last pitiful sigh of a dying republic.

We are at an important crossroads in America. The course our nation takes over the coming months and years will be determined in large measure by what we the people do on this election day. Let’s start working together to get our country back on track.

Freedom is a tenable objective only for responsible individuals.--Milton and Rose Friedman in Free to Choose: A Personal Statement

Our Constitution: Use it or Lose it.

2010-09-26T12:42:00.000-07:00

Contrary to what some are saying, our Consti-tution is still critically important. First and foremost among its virtues is the fact that it provides us with protec-tion against would-be and evolving tyrants.

The U.S. Constitution was written and imple-mented to act as a curb against the worst elements and tendencies of human nature, and there is no evidence to suggest that those elements and tendencies have significantly declined or moderated in mankind since the adoption of the Constitution 223 years ago. Therefore, the protection it affords us is still extremely valuable, even though some insist that the document is outdated.

Our Constitution was designed to distribute political power in such a way that it could not readily fall into the hands of an elite few. That is the whole purpose of the Constitution. The Founders knew that most men, with nothing to counter their personal ambitions and passions, would ultimately and invariably succumb to the weaknesses and vices that afflict, to one degree or another, all human beings.

Americans, be warned! Government is power; thus it is dangerous! Consequently it must be kept scrupulously under control and out of the hands those who exhibit even the slightest predilection for disregarding the rights of others.

If we continue to let our president and members of congress undermine and dismantle our Constitution, we are going to find ourselves living under a Nazi-like regime, a regime with vicious and savage propensities.

This will inevitably occur because power corrupts. We already see it happening. Many of our political leaders are growing arrogant, and no longer feel obligated or compelled to restrain themselves.

Wake up! Begin exercising your powers and rights as free Americans, powers and rights you retain explicitly through the 9th and 10th amendments to the Constitution. Start demanding absolute obedience to the Constitution as a condition of employment for your elected officials. The rules of government are clearly contained in the Constitution. Yet many holding our nation’s highest political offices are blatantly ignoring those rules. Therefore, they are cheating.

Don't be misled, the reason Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi habitually ignore the Constitution is because they resent the limitations it imposes upon them. They don’t want to be impeded in any way as they carry out their tyrannical ambitions. They want to be free to do as they damn well please.

They must be stopped! Please lend a hand!

Liberty vs. Tyranny

2010-09-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

I already know every-thing I need to know to make the right choice in Nevada’s Sharron Angle vs. Harry Reid senate race.

He’s for big government; she isn’t.

Everything else is mere election-year rhetoric--the typical bruising and boisterous comments opposing candidates hurl at one another when they’re fighting for votes.

But here’s what sets Sharron Angle apart--miles apart from Harry Reid. Sharron Angle understands that the U.S. Constitution was written to place limits on the federal government. Furthermore, Sharron Angle appreciates why the Founders believed it was necessary to impose those limits.

Harry Reid doesn’t.

Harry Reid has demonstrated, beyond any reasonable doubt, that he is a staunch advocate of big government, meddlesome government, high-handed government. He has revealed himself to be a key member and player in the Washington faction that believes the people are stupid and government is all-knowing and wise.

Make no mistake about it. An ever-enlarging federal government, a government that is daily arrogating unconstitutional powers to itself, is a serious and dangerous threat to our liberty. A government that is recklessly sinking this country deeper and deeper into debt is a serious and dangerous threat to our liberty. A government that is intent upon robbing the industrious and thrifty so it may transfer their earnings to those who are not industrious and thrifty is a serious and dangerous threat to our liberty.

Fellow Nevadans: There is no time to waste. We must, this very moment, get started on the pressing task of down-sizing the federal government and stripping it of all its unconstitutional, and therefore illegal, powers. If we don’t, it will overtake us and consume us like a ravenous wolf. You can bet on it.

We, you and I, can begin that urgent down-sizing process right now by encouraging our relatives, friends and neighbors to get solidly behind Sharron Angle. Harry Reid and his like-minded cronies have brought untold grief and hardship to millions of Americans. And they’re not finished. They’re planning to unleash even more.

Without question, Harry Reid must go. And Sharron Angle is the ideal replacement.

Sharron Angle has courageously and candidly put her views and beliefs before the public. And in doing so she has taken a good deal of flak.

For instance, she believes that social security should be phased out. Well why not? It isn’t working and it’s going broke. Why not replace it with a system that returns control and responsibility back into the hands of the individual?

She also has said it is not the role of a U.S. Senator to create jobs. Well she’s right; it isn’t. In a free-market economy private enterprise creates the jobs and the government maintains a general atmosphere conducive to private enterprise, an atmosphere in which honest entrepreneurs can acquire capital, start a business, hire employees and grow, all without stifling government interference and taxation.

I strongly urge every Nevadan to take a fresh look at Sharron Angle. Harry Reid has served four terms in the U.S. Senate, and what has he accomplished in all those years? I’ll tell you what he has accomplished. His unwise votes in the Senate helped create the ruinous government policies that led this country into the most catastrophic economic disaster since the Great Depression.

Certainly no rational person is naïve enough to believe that this mess can be easily turned around. On the contrary, having a malignant tumor cut out of your body is always a painful experience. But if we truly love America, if we want it returned to its former vigor and glory, if we want it restored to the condition it was in before the big-government crowd got hold of it, we must systematically rid congress of those who are destroying it.

And in Nevada we now have before us a perfect opportunity to do just that. Come November, please take a bold and unequivocal stand against big government: Vote for Sharron Angle! Vote for liberty!

There is no better time than now to start putting our badly weakened and beleaguered country back on solid ground, and back into the hands of the people, where it rightfully belongs.

Where Do You Stand?

2010-08-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

Our current president is expanding both the reach and scope of the federal govern-ment at a pace never before witnessed in American his-tory. Some see nothing wrong with it; others are angry and alarmed.

I suppose which side of the fence one is on depends largely upon how much faith one is willing to place in gov-ernment. Our Founders were skeptical of government; therefore they placed their faith in the people. Obviously President Obama and his faction disagree with the Founders, and are frantically trying to reorder the system.

However, anyone with even a fair knowledge of history knows that most governments have been repressive and invasive. Ours, on the other hand, is a shining exception. Of course, in recent years high school graduates have been leaving school with only a fragmentary understanding of history so they are largely unaware of that. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions regarding which of the two struggling factions, liberals or conservatives, is benefiting most due to that regrettable oversight.

Because the Founders were placing their trust in the people, they elected to establish a small government with extremely limited powers. Those powers were so limited, in fact, that they were listed in writing to minimize any future confusion that might develop regarding the nature of the government they were creating.

The Founders also believed it was absolutely essential to divide rather than consolidate even those sparse powers the people were yielding to their government. Therefore they created within the federal government three distinct bodies or branches: a legislative, an executive and a judicial.

And then, as extra insurance, they added a Bill of Rights to the Constitution that laid out in plain English where the federal government stood in relation to the people and the sovereign states whose duly elected representatives had convened to form it.

Now with all that said, I have a favor to ask of you. Today I invite all who read this to carefully and objectively analyze what level of confidence he or she has in the government now operating in Washington--the officious and oversized government that is ruthlessly and arrogantly trampling down the constitutional restraints that were wisely put in place to keep it from getting out of hand. I ask you to do this so you may determine which side of the fence you are on. For it is a matter of grave importance that each citizen of the United States knows, without question, where he or she stands in this raging struggle for control over our lives and futures.

This certainly is no time to be forgetting that our Constitution was written expressly to secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity. I ask you: Where will our security be, where will our liberty be, once the powers of government no longer rest in our hands?

Hope

2010-08-18T11:08:00.000-07:00

Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

My friends, we have wandered into forbidden paths. We have placed ourselves in a vulnerable spot. And consequently we are in danger of being plucked!

During the last presidential campaign a lot of mileage was squeezed out of the word “hope.” Unfortunately the person doing the squeezing was using the word merely as a crass campaign tactic. He was employing it only for the sake of arousing pleasant emotions within the populace, pleasant emotions he believed would then be associated with him.

To some, however, the word hope is valued more highly than that and is held in much greater esteem. To them it is a word not to be carelessly tossed about, for hope is what people cling to when they have little else. No principled person would ever think of employing that term solely for the purpose of enticing discouraged and despondent men and women into believing that meaningful help was on the way when it wasn’t. But regrettably that is how low some politicians in this country will stoop in order to get themselves elected to high political office.

Of course, all who are acquainted with the Bible and believe its words know better than to place their full hope and trust in prevaricating politicians--or any mortal man, for that matter. The Bible warns: “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.” We also read: “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.”

I will pose a question. If the man who puts his trust in the Lord is blessed, is the man who puts his trust in man cursed? I don’t know, but considering what is currently going on around us, I think the possibility is well worth considering.

A Founding Father and our country’s second president John Adams wrote: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Adams understood that only those who know right from wrong, those capable of properly regulating their own conduct and affairs, could be expected to live harmoniously, peacefully and successfully under a national government as small and limited as the one outlined in our constitution. Immoral men, he knew, would require a stricter and more comprehensive form of government, a government not unlike the Frankenstein that has been under construction for over 70 years in this country and is now nearing completion.

Jesus said: “In this world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

So long as we are in this world, complete and permanent happiness will elude us. Evil-minded men, or even well-intentioned men, may from time to time step forward offering alluring ideas and promises, but we always will find those men, whatever their inner motives, to be woefully ill equipped to transform our world into anything remotely resembling a Garden of Eden.

Our founders gave us, as Adams pointed out, a constitution possessing just enough power to adequately govern moral and religious men and women. Nevertheless the government it underpins worked marvelously well for a great many years and spawned a previously unheard of level of security and prosperity for the vast majority of our nation’s citizens. Yet despite this huge body of historical evidence, there are many, including our current president, who now see our constitution and government as “inadequate.” But the question is: Does the inadequacy lie in the constitution and government or in us?

I believe a close inspection of ourselves and our nation’s leaders will confirm that it lies in us. A large and ever-increasing number of us lack the moral and ethical qualities our ancestors possessed in abundance. Americans gradually have changed over the years. And in so doing we have rendered ourselves unfit to live under that great banner of liberty written by our founding fathers. It is time to humble ourselves and admit that we have permitted our political leaders to transform themselves into gods, false gods to whom we foolishly have acquiesced and followed deep into the wilderness.

But be of good cheer! There still is before us one sure way out. If we yearn to one day possess real security and genuine happiness, we need only to shut our ears to those who are garrulously foisting upon us a debased hope, a hope that is nothing more than a crude forgery of the real thing, and begin listening once again to the voice of He who has overcome the world, He who continues patiently to offer us hope that is both untarnished and authentic.

And if we will listen to His message and try diligently to obey, then whatever hardships may befall us, we will, like the Christians of old, be able to proclaim with confidence: “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.”

Without question and without fail there will be tribulation in this world--some natural and some man-made. But we may rest assured that we always will be much better prepared to cope with and endure those times of distress and uncerainty if our hope for a brighter future is rooted not in politicians and government but in God.

It Is Time To Take The Bushel Off Your Candle

2010-08-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

Wouldn’t you think news stories should be prioritized and reported on the basis of how vital and urgent the information is to the public? For example, if a category-5 hurricane was about to strike a major U.S. city, would it be appropriate to forego the reporting of that story in favor of reporting on the latest fashion designs coming out of Paris?

I don’t think so.

So why is it that with our entire nation teetering precariously on the very brink of a catastrophic political and economic breakdown all the major network news organizations are bypassing the story?

If you are a fisherman, aren’t you trying to catch the biggest fish in the sea? If you are an investor, aren’t you always looking for the investment opportunity of a life-time? So why aren’t our top network news reporters going after the most important, crucial and newsworthy story of the century--the impending sociopolitical upheaval that is about to overtake the United States if its citizens don’t awaken and get their house in order?

Isn’t this behavior oddly inconsistent with the objectives of their profession? We assume, after all, that these wide-gauge gossips are entitled to their exorbitant salaries and superstar status because they are the best darn news gatherers and reporters in the business. Yet they are missing the elephant-in-the-living-room story. So what gives?

What gives is that virtually all of our mainstream news media luminaries are little more than hired hands. They are mere pawns who do nothing more nor less than what they are told to do. They aren’t independent thinkers, at all; they’re propagandists who mindlessly carry out the will of others in exchange for a little prestige and a high salary. The only difference between them and Hitler’s Joseph Goebbels is their wardrobe. They don’t wear brown uniforms at One World Order rallies. Not yet, at least.

What we must come to understand, if we are to survive as a free people, is that our current mainstream news media functions to conceal information, not reveal it. When news come into a network news bureau, a good deal of it, that which has the greatest potential for enlightening the public, is discarded immediately. The small portion that remains is then substantially modified and smartly packaged before it is released for public consumption.

If you are surprised by that, you shouldn’t be. After all, when a clandestine syndicate of unprincipled men and women are attempting to take over the world, it goes without saying that they must retain a corps of professional and polished liars to keep their secrets and distract the intended victims.

So what is my message for today? Simply this: It is time to take the bushel off your candle. Massive and horrendous crimes are unfolding before our very eyes. And honorable men and woman do not stand by with their hands in their pockets while masked criminals, working under a cloak of darkness, commit with impunity outrageous and despicable acts. Surely we Americans don’t want to be like the “good” Germans who shut their eyes to the atrocities of Nazism.

One of the simplest and most effectual ways ordinary citizens can thwart these unscrupulous vermin and eventually bring them to justice is to start shedding some much needed light into areas where presently there is only darkness. With things as they are now in this country, I think a great many people are becoming more and more willing to accept the idea that there are outright traitors operating as an organized body in the highest levels and offices of our government as well as within the nation’s news media.

When I was a kid, I occasionally heard adults conjecturing about such things, but I considered the possibilities to be both remote and minimal. However, as I’ve grown and matured, and witnessed first-hand many strange and questionable developments in the way our government is run, I’ve come to believe that their nagging doubts and fears were fully justified--mainly because this admittedly incredible theory of things provides the only reasonable explanation for why our nation’s health and vitality has deteriorated so rapidly and alarmingly over the past several decades.

At the end of World War II America was without question the most powerful nation on earth. But now, just 65 years later, our once vibrant and enviable national economy is in shambles and we are smothering in debt. Are we expected to believe that this is just a coincidence? Are we expected to believe that this is merely the result of ignorance and gross incompetence on the part of our national leaders?

No my friends, that’s what the news media wants us to believe. But in actuality the many problems, fears and uncertainties we currently are facing in this country are the direct result of a carefully developed and executed plot to bring America to her knees. And we won’t get this mess cleaned up, or things straightened out, until a sufficient number of us recognize what is truly going on around us.

So if you want your children and grandchildren to live in a special land where they can achieve their highest hopes and ambitions, please get out there and start casting some light into the shadowy recesses where these treacherous rats live and breed. Because it is quite obvious that the current superstars of American journalism are determined to keep this fiendish plot enshrouded in impenetrable darkness.

Let There Be Light

2010-07-28T11:26:00.000-07:00

Perhaps it is time to go over some fundamen-tals.

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”

What you have just read are the first fifty words of the Bible. Can anyone doubt that those first fifty words were carefully chosen? I am confident that they were, for I believe they convey to us an extremely vital piece of information--that above all else, God intended for man to live in light, not in darkness.

If we go on further in the Bible to John 1: 1-5, we find these additional passages regarding light.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”

Continuing yet further to John 3: 16-20, we find still more information on the subject of light.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.”

So here we are. The year is now 2010, and more than ever before we are being told by influential men and women in high places that they can save the world. But there is one particularly disturbing and frightening aspect to their methods. They are not forthright with the people. They withhold and conceal truth; they love darkness rather than light.

My friends, that is a very revealing clue if you wish to know whether the high and the mighty of this world are truly working in the best interest of everyone on the planet.

Isaiah wrote: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness.” (Isaiah 5: 20)

Are we not subjected every day to that kind of spin on reality? Are we not told incessantly that those who hold conservative views are backward and bad, while those who hold liberal views are enlightened and good?

Friends, we are being plunged deeper and deeper into a state of darkness by those who are attempting to seduce us into believing that they can save the world. But have you ever asked yourself why, if their motives are purely unselfish and noble, they have found it necessary to shun truth and shut out light? Could it be, perchance, because their intentions are not purely unselfish and noble; and that they do not want their evil intentions to come to light, lest their deeds should be reproved?

Jesus said: “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8: 12)

If you believe the Bible, as I do, then it is clear to you that God gave us light, both physical and spiritual. He lovingly gave us those gifts so we could see our way and avoid snares and pitfalls.

A choice is before us. Shall we follow Jesus Christ, whose life is the light of men, or shall we follow those in high places who hate the light and work assiduously to keep us in the dark?

I say, as God did: “Let there be light.”

Truth

2010-07-19T11:56:00.000-07:00

Today I am going to play philosopher and theologian and speak of truth. And for those on a tight schedule, I will keep it brief.

The originator of Christianity once said: “Know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” That simple statement reveals something extremely important about the nature of truth, something mankind must never forget; i.e., that knowing truth is liberating. And if that is so, then follow-ing error must take man down the opposite path. It must lead unquestionably to loss of freedom and confinement.

So are you starting to see where I’m going with this?

If what Jesus said is correct, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, then is it any wonder that the national news media tells us lies and withholds truth? Is it any wonder that our schools teach our children rubbish instead of facts? And is it any wonder that President Obama, congressional leaders and wacko economists keep assuring us that sustainable, long-term prosperity can be achieved by continually borrowing money from our enemy China?

Hey, we’re being led like blind men carefully into captivity!

But listen up. Truth is out there. Admittedly, it may be concealed under an ever growing pile of misinformation, but it’s out there. And it’s time we started uncovering it, sharing it with our friends, and then acting upon it in a lawful and concerted manner.

President Obama is wrong! Contrary to what he may think, America is still a Christian nation. It is both imprudent and premature for him to believe that we have abandoned our true and immortal Savior in order to follow a false and mortal one!

I promised I would keep this brief, so in closing I will offer this: Understanding Bible truths is more important than having a gun; nevertheless, I would advise you to keep one handy.

One Less Predator

2010-07-14T08:26:00.000-07:00

Man’s most fundamental and earnest desire is to live. He will go to great lengths to survive. For primitive man, survival required a full day’s work and more. Here he was, somewhere on the surface of an undevel-oped and unforgiving planet, faced with the enormous and relentless challenge of perpetuat-ing his existence.

Let’s examine some of the basic things he needed in order to sustain himself beyond a few days, which, by the way, is what we call security, another of man’s fundamental interests.

First he needed a reliable and plentiful source of water and food. Life, he knew, was unsustainable where these necessities were beyond his reach. His first task, therefore, was to locate an area where these essentials were reasonably accessible to him and where he was free to acquire them without great difficulty or undue interference. After all, even back then there were only 24 hours in a day. If he couldn’t gather up each day what he needed to support himself for a day, he was going to run into trouble.

Upon finding a place suitable to his needs, his next order of business was to erect a shelter. Man is simply not equipped to withstand the elements without some form of protection. After venturing out each day to secure a livelihood, he needed a safe and comfortable place to come back to--a place where he could rest and recuperate so he could go out the following day and do it all over again.

And finally, his long-term survival depended upon having reliable weapons and other implements so he would have a fighting chance in his daily quest to acquire food and other indispensable items. It is a fact of nature that the animals he was seeking for nourishment also wanted to live and, therefore, did not make themselves readily available to him. Additionally, he needed weapons for protection against predators, both animal and human, who also were fiercely committed to their own daily struggle for survival.

Once he had these basics tenuously in place, the primitive man enjoyed some level of stability in his life, and he felt a little less anxious about his survival. Nevertheless, he could never totally relax, for now he was faced with the endless challenge of holding on to what he had worked so diligently to acquire--an area in which to work and live, some essential tools and weapons, and his own home. Through brains, initiative, courage and determination he had carved out for himself a place upon God’s green earth. It was his because he found it, secured it, and drew his livelihood from it. But it was only his so long as he could hang on to it. And the ways in which it could be lost were almost endless.

In this way modern man differs very little from primitive man, with one salient exception: Primitive man had one less predator to contend with. He had no federal government plotting feverishly and doggedly to rob him of his livelihood and undermine his security.

“Progress might have been all right once, but it's gone on too long.” ~Ogden Nash

Calling Things By Their Right Name

2010-07-09T08:39:00.000-07:00

There is a Chinese proverb that says, “The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right name.”

A great many Americans who instinctively know something is desperately wrong in this country still labor under the mistaken notion that our society is breaking down solely because those who hold our nation’s highest political offices are incompetent fools.

If you are one of those who hold this view, I would like to invite you to begin looking at things from a new perspective.

What if these men and women, or at least a significant portion of them, are not incompetent fools at all, but are in fact shrewd schemers--schemers who are intentionally trying to weaken our country and draw power to themselves so they may transform our government into something else--like an oligarchy, for example?

If this alternative view of things, shocking as it may seem, is correct, then those who subscribe to the other view are calling our chief leaders in Washington by the wrong name. They are calling them incompetent when they are in truth a highly effective and ambitious band of turncoats.

I ask you. Could any of our top leaders in the federal government seriously believe that when a nation is 13 trillion dollars in debt that borrowing still more money will magically revitalize the national economy and usher in a bright new era of growth and prosperity? No, of course they don’t. They know as well as you do that it will only make matters worse.

Bottom line: Our foremost national leaders may be fools, but they are not incompetent. They only appear that way to those who don’t understand what their ultimate objective is. Indeed, in their relentless efforts to undermine and destroy our political and economic systems they have demonstrated a good deal of ability and expertise, not to mention a remarkable degree of audacity and persistence.

Therefore, it is absolutely imperative that we, as concerned Americans, recognize one paramount fact: We will never succeed in defeating this virulent strain of mutant monsters until we see them for what they really are and start calling them by their right name--TRAITORS who have abused our trust.

I call upon each of you to revive the patriot in your soul! Time is short. The clock is ticking.

The Political Wisdom of Barry Goldwater

2010-06-24T09:34:00.000-07:00

Among the conser-vative politicians of the 1950s through the 1980s, few stand out as vividly as the late Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater.

In 1964, when Barry Goldwater was the Republican candidate for president running against Democrat Lyndon Johnson, I was just a kid in high school with little understanding of politics. I recall almost nothing about that campaign and election, only that Goldwater lost big-time. One thing I do remember, however, is that Goldwater’s opponent and the news media cast him as a reckless wild man in sharp contrast to Lyndon Johnson’s carefully fabricated media image as a self-restrained and reasonable leader.

History records that Lyndon Johnson, upon his election to the presidency, immediately launched a massive program of social spending that he termed “The Great Society.” Looking back on it now, the only thing that was great about it was that it was a great mistake, for what it actually did was transform an already great society into a mediocre one. It accomplished this by inviting hundreds of thousands of wholly unproductive and semi-productive Americans to become wards of the state, which they were all too happy to do. So I ask you, from today’s perspective, “Who turned out to be the most reckless candidate? Who steered us further away from the safe course set by our Founders and drove us more deeply into the barbed-wire enclosure of government control?”

I suppose as a whole present-day Americans aren’t even as politically astute as the generation that was hoodwinked into choosing Lyndon Johnson over Barry Goldwater in 1964. Nevertheless, I offer a few of Senator Goldwater's beliefs and insights on the proper role of government in the hope that someone, somewhere might recognize their value and take heed.

What follows are random quotes drawn from Barry Goldwater’s book, first published in 1960, entitled The Conscience of a Conservative.

***

Surely the first obligation of a political thinker is to understand the nature of man.

The Conservative looks upon politics as the art of achieving the maximum amount of freedom for individuals that is consistent with the maintenance of social order.

We shall return to proven ways--not because they are old, but because they are true.

The framers of the Constitution had learned the lesson. They were not only students of history, but victims of it: they knew from vivid, personal experience that freedom depends on effective restraints against the accumulation of power in a single authority. And that is what the Constitution is: a system of restraints against the natural tendency of government to expand in the direction of absolutism.

The Tenth Amendment is not "a general assumption," but a prohibitory rule of law. The Tenth Amendment recognizes the States' jurisdiction in certain areas. States' Rights means that the States have a right to act or not to act, as they see fit, in the areas reserved to them. The States may have duties corresponding to these rights, but the duties are owed to the people of the States, not to the federal government. Therefore, the recourse lies not with the federal government, which is not sovereign, but with the people who are, and who have full power to take disciplinary action.

Nothing could so far advance the cause of freedom as for state officials throughout the land to assert their rightful claims to lost state power; and for the federal government to withdraw promptly and totally from every jurisdiction which the Constitution reserved to the states.

Government does not have an unlimited claim on the earnings of individuals. One of the foremost precepts of the natural law is man's right to the possession and the use of his property. And a man's earnings are his property as much as his land and the house in which he lives. Indeed, in the industrial age, earnings are probably the most prevalent form of property.

Socialism-through-Welfarism poses a far greater danger to freedom than Socialism-through-Nationalization precisely because it is more difficult to combat. The evils of Nationalization are self-evident and immediate. Those of Welfarism are veiled and tend to be postponed.

The effect of Welfarism on freedom will be felt later on--after its beneficiaries have become its victims, after dependence on government has turned into bondage and it is too late to unlock the jail.

The long range political consequences of Welfarism are plain enough: as we have seen, the State that is able to deal with its citizens as wards and dependents has gathered unto itself unlimited political and economic power and is thus able to rule as absolutely as any oriental despot.

The truth, of course, is that the federal government has no funds except those it extracts from the taxpayers who reside in the various States. The money that the federal government pays to State X for education has been taken from the citizens of State X in federal taxes and comes back to them, minus the Washington brokerage fee. The less wealthy States, to be sure, receive slightly more than they give, just as the more wealthy states receive somewhat less. But the differences are negligible. For the most part, federal aid simply substitutes the tax-collecting facilities of the federal government for those of local governments.

My view is that if State X possesses the wealth to educate its children adequately, but has failed to utilize its wealth for that purpose, it is up to the people of State X to take remedial action through their local and state governments. The federal government has neither the right nor the duty to intervene.

Conservatism, we are told, is out-of-date. The charge is preposterous and we ought boldly to say so. The laws of God, and of nature, have no dateline. The principles on which the Conservative political position is based have been established by a process that has nothing to do with the social, economic and political landscape that changes from decade to decade and from century to century. These principles are derived from the nature of man, and from the truths that God has revealed about His creation. Circumstances do change. So do the problems that are shaped by circumstances. But the principles that govern the solution of the problems do not. To suggest that the Conservative philosophy is out of date is akin to saying that the Golden Rule, or the Ten Commandments or Aristotle's Politics are out of date. The Conservative approach is nothing more or less than an attempt to apply the wisdom and experience and the revealed truths of the past to the problems of today.

I have been much concerned that so many people today with Conservative instincts feel compelled to apologize for them.

Every man, for his individual good and for the good of his society, is responsible for his own development.

If the Conservative is less anxious than his Liberal brethren to increase Social Security "benefits," it is because he is more anxious than his Liberal brethren that people be free throughout their lives to spend their earnings when and as they see fit.

Who will proclaim in a campaign speech: "I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed in their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is 'needed' before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents' 'interests,' I shall reply that I was informed their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can."

***

I sincerely hope that some or all of these words have stirred your soul a little. I know they stirred mine. We are way off track, my friends, and I don’t know what it will take to get us back to where we ought to be. But I know this: We won’t get back on course if we remain cowardly and ignorant. Make no mistake about it--any government that is steadily amassing power, as ours is, is doing so by robbing the people of their inherent rights and freedoms, no matter how benevolent or innocent that government pretends to be.

We have before us a stark reality: Push the federal government out of our lives or be overtaken by it. Delay strengthens the enemy. Take a stand today!

The Oil Spill

2010-06-16T10:57:00.000-07:00

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has gener-ated a lot of bad news. The spill is said to be the worst catastrophe of its kind in history. The company responsible for the spill, BP, is receiving much criticism, and rightly so. But who else shares responsibility for this unprecedented environmental disaster?

Let me suggest that the government of the United States, particularly the Department of the Interior, and Americans in general also are to blame.

Let’s begin with the government.

The U.S. government, through the Department of the Interior, granted to BP an offshore lease which permitted the company to drill for oil 5,000 feet below the surface in the Gulf of Mexico. This was done even though the DOI itself admits that drilling for oil even 1,000 feet below the surface is a pretty dicey undertaking, one fraught with risks. So why does our government issue permits to oil companies wishing to drill at those extreme depths?

They issue them because big oil companies, whether domestic or foreign, wield enormous power and influence. In fact, it might be said that their power is exceeded only by the world’s central banks, our own Federal Reserve being among them, when it comes to behind-the-scenes manipulation of the world’s governments and economies.

You see many people--the vast majority, in fact--still fail to recognize that our government is no longer entirely in our hands. It is for the most part in the hands of those who, by hook or by crook, have managed to corner vast quantities of the world’s wealth, thereby gaining for themselves almost limitless power. At the moment, these shady figures prefer to operate behind closed doors and undercover. They get their traitorous work accomplished by purchasing and grooming puppet leaders to fill important offices within government, people on the make who are willing to promote the cabal’s interests while luring ordinary citizens into captivity by offering them a “helping hand” and doing what’s in their “best interest.” How do you suppose, for example, that an obscure nobody like Barack Obama rose from out of the blue to become president of the United States?

But enough said on the government’s unsavory involvement. Now let’s turn our attention to why the American public also is to blame.

The publics’ complicity in this boils down to just one thing: we have an insatiable appetite for oil. Consider this. Daily oil consumption in the U.S. roughly matches the daily combined consumption of the next four leading consumers of oil: China, Japan, Russia and India. And here’s another interesting comparison. The U.S. consumes nearly ten times more oil per day than our neighbor Canada does.

When I was a kid, the average American family owned one car and used it sparingly. Now everyone in a family who possesses a driver’s license owns a vehicle, not to mention all the motor homes, quads, dirt bikes, snowmobiles and watercraft many families also have. Some of these vehicles are on the move day and night.

I would dare say, and I’m sure many would agree, that most Americans wish to continue living in the fashion they’re accustomed to. Most of us, even so-called environmentalists, show little interest in altering our present lifestyle. Therefore our government permits oil companies to reach out further and further into previously unexplored regions of the earth in search of more oil, oil we all are willing to buy and consume voraciously, thus increasing the wealth and influence of corporations that already have us by the throat.

In other words, BP was drilling, and the government was allowing them to, because there is a huge worldwide demand for oil. And without question American consumers are demanding the lion share of it.

So next time a hot surge of righteous indignation towards BP and the mess they’ve created wells up inside of you, remember that you and the government you support also are to blame. And if you really want to make a difference, if you really don’t want to see anymore pelicans smothering in black goo, sell two or three of your automobiles and start taking the bus to work. And put your teenagers on bicycles. They probably could use the exercise.

And one more thing. If we don’t cut back voluntarily, the government will take the opportunity--indeed, jump at it--to create insidious new laws and regulations that will force us to, thereby further undermining the power of the people and expanding the power of the government.

BP screwed up, and it’s going to cost them. It may even fall by the wayside. But in the long run the world’s largest oil companies, like the world’s largest banks, will continue to grow and prosper and consolidate their power and influence, irrespective of any dog and pony shows staged by President Obama and members of Congress.

You can count on it.

The Bill of Rights

2010-06-03T09:07:00.000-07:00

When the Bill of Rights initially was considered by the Consti-tutional Convention and the First Congress, it was a controversial topic. Many, even among the Founding Fathers, saw no reason for one. They believed the re-straints imposed upon the federal government by the Constitution were sufficient. However, we now recognize what a great blessing the Bill of Rights is, and realize that those who insisted upon its adoption were endowed with an extraordinary degree of foresight.

The Bill of Rights serves as a clear and unmistakable boundary between the limited powers delegated to the federal government and the almost limitless rights retained by the people. The Bill of Rights is, in effect, a “NO TRESPASSING” sign to over zealous and designing politicians.

If you haven’t read the Bill of Rights recently, please take a moment to do so. Every true American should be thoroughly acquainted with the first ten amendments to our Constitution. They all are important, but please pay particular attention to IX and X. You may on some occasion wish to bring these to the attention of our current president or to those who represent you in congress.

****

Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II
A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment III
No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment V
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

Amendment VII
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment IX
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

****

Too often we take these rights for granted. That is because we always have had them. But if they were ever taken from us, overnight our lives and the lives of our posterity would be dramatically altered in ways we can hardly imagine.

The turncoats in Washington recognize that in order to abolish these rights without creating too great a stir, they must make us believe that the challenges currently facing America and the world are so great that they can be solved only by granting additional power to government. But remember: No matter how challenging or complex the affairs of the world may seem to be, requiring free men and women to surrender their rights certainly will not make things better.

Anyone possessing even a modicum of commonsense realizes that the world cannot be improved by enslaving vast quantities of people, if for no other reason than it would seriously reduce the number of honest and capable minds that could be set to work solving problems.

We have a treasure in the Bill of Rights. Guard it with your life.

The Jeep: A War-Winning Machine

2010-05-05T15:30:00.000-07:00

Let’s take a break from the dreary world of politics for a moment and turn our atten-tion to a brighter and more hopeful topic--Jeeps. Not Cherokees or Liberties, but real Jeeps--the ones you can remove the top from and lay the windshield down; the ones that put bugs in your teeth and mud in your eyes.

For many months now I have been scrupulously monitoring such network news luminaries as Brian Williams, Diane Sawyer and Katie Couric, and nary a word, pro or con, has crossed their lips concerning Jeeps. I don’t know about you, but this glaring omission makes me more than just a little suspicious. Why, I keep asking myself, are they withholding information about Jeeps? What do they expect to gain by pretending these beloved and sporty little vehicles don’t exist?

But let us not waste our time today becoming hopelessly mired in bottomless questions and fathomless mysteries. Let us, instead, be practical. Let us do what we, as honest Americans, can do. Let us begin filling that conspicuous and gaping void created by our illustrious colleagues in New York who labor mightily each day to bemuse and befuddle us.

The brawny and sprightly Jeep traces its noble origins to a portentous time when the industrialized nations of the world were arming madly for war--a conflagration that ultimately came to be called World War II. The U.S. Army, acutely aware of the mounting danger, put out a request for a light reconnaissance vehicle. Three automakers--Ford, Willys and Bantam--submitted prototypes for evaluation. Following a period of intense scrutiny and rigorous testing, the Willys design was adopted, and thus the diminutive but mighty Jeep was born. It’s arrival came not a moment too soon, for on December 7, 1941, the United States was suddenly and unequivocally swept into the unfolding global conflict.

In its first incarnation, the Jeep came in but one color--olive drab; nevertheless G.I.’s around the world fell instantly in love with it. It possessed a striking and rugged beauty few men could resist. It soon was the American fighting man’s most cherished and faithful companion.

The Jeep served gallantly on every front of the war and was an invaluable component of the Allies’ vast war effort. The need for them eventually grew so great, in fact, that Ford was called upon to assist Willys in their production. Following the war, General Eisenhower praised the Jeep as one of three implements without which the war could not have been won. This salute from a widely respected general secured forever the Jeep’s reputation as a war-winning machine.

Fortunately for the Jeep and all the rest of us, its career did not end when victory came. Indeed, it made a speedy and effortless transition to civilian life. It went directly to work assisting farmers and ranchers, geologists and miners, surveyors and road builders, campers and hunters. It could be found anyplace ruggedness, fidelity and pluck were required in a vehicle.

The first nonmilitary version of the Jeep, which appeared immediately following the war, was designated the CJ-2A. Since its debut, the civilian Jeep has undergone a number of alterations, upgrades and refinements, many decried by today’s purists. Nevertheless, the fundamental elements that comprised the heart and soul of those original olive drab beauties still reside in the Jeep’s latest variant--the Wrangler.

Of the nearly 650,000 Jeeps produced by Willys and Ford during World War II, only a handful remain today, each one a tangible link to a tumultuous period in our nation’s history, a time of feverish activity and great danger, a time when all Americans stood tall and united against the barbarous forces of tyranny.

So remember. Even though they don’t always get the attention they deserve, Jeeps do exist. And they continue to elicit respect, joy and wonderment in all of us who still can appreciate indomitable strength, unwavering steadiness and simple beauty.

Spreading the Wealth

2010-04-28T09:38:00.000-07:00

A fallacy being perpet-uated by President Obama is that our nation’s wealth isn’t being spread around properly. (Remember his comment to “Joe the Plumber?”) Apparently the president thinks it is unfair that the people who are willing to work live more comfortably than those who are unwilling to work. Therefore, he believes the government should step in and even things out.

But the fact is, the nation’s wealth already is being spread around quite effectively. Each day working Americans earn a share of our country’s wealth, and each day they pass a portion of that wealth on to others. Not a day goes by that purchases aren’t made and services paid for. Even the rich, though despised and vilified by liberals, participate fully in this daily process. In fact, because they earn more, they generally spend more. Money is being briskly exchanged all the time in this country; it doesn’t just sit around idle.

So what is it that the president is objecting to? Quite simply, he is displeased about who controls the process. What displeases him is that the people who earn the wealth get to decide where it goes after they earn it. He doesn’t like that.

Here is what he would like to see happen instead. He wants all the nation’s wealth to flow unimpeded to the federal government so bureaucrats under his charge and control may distribute it as he sees fit. Why? Because he believes his judgment is superior to ours. Elitists, you see, always think they--and they alone--know what is right. And President Obama is an elitist, through and through.

But remember this: Our nation was founded on principles aimed at maximizing individual freedom while limiting the powers of government. What Barack Obama and others refer to as “spreading the wealth” is simply a ruse for taking power and control away from the people and consolidating it into the hands of government. This is contrary to our founding principles and therefore is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!

Think about it. Only the shiftless and indolent are dissatisfied with the manner in which wealth is spread in this country. They complain that the nation’s wealth isn’t reaching them; but if they refuse to place themselves along the path of that wealth as it is flowing by, how do they realistically expect to acquire a share of it? All the rest of us know and understand that we must get out of bed in the morning and drive to a place where money can be earned--and spend the entire day there. Sure it’s inconvenient, but we don’t expect to draw water from the river unless we’re willing to go down to the river’s edge everyday and get our shoes muddy.

When it comes to his position on “spreading the wealth,” the president is brashly displaying his true colors, and they are not red, white and blue. How could any real American, least of all the president, believe it is in the best interest of our country to be encouraging those who refuse to work to harbor resentment towards those who are willing to work. And certainly the president, the nation’s highest political leader, shouldn’t be encouraging those who won’t work to believe that our economic system, the free enterprise system, is fundamentally unfair. That system is NOT unfair! It only seems that way to people who aren’t enterprising.

Bottom line: The president is pitting the working class against the nonworking class, and is promoting and lending respectability to a lie, solely for the purpose of gaining power. Barack Obama is not content with being president, he wants to be an emperor, a ruler unencumbered by restraints.

We can no longer afford to be complacent. If we don’t act fast and assert our Constitutional rights as free men and women, the president, you can be sure, will get his promotion.

The Single Biggest Threat?

2010-04-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

Recently during a nuclear summit held in Washington, President Obama said: "The central focus of this nuclear summit is the fact that the single biggest threat to U.S. security, both short term, medium term and long term, would be the possibility of a terrorist organization obtaining a nuclear weapon."

Although I heartily agree that the threat of terrorists obtaining a nuclear device and employing it against a major U.S. city is a very serious one, it certainly is not the most immediate or dire threat facing the U.S. at this time. The single biggest threat facing America right now is the one from within. It is the large and growing number of high-level office holders in Washington, including President Obama, who no longer believe in the U.S. Constitution or the system of government it underpins.

Make no mistake about it, these insidious betrayers, who have clandestinely infiltrated our nation’s very heart and core, constitute America’s deadliest enemies.

We need to remember that a nation is strong, and therefore enjoys a greater level of security, when a majority of its citizens believe strongly in the principles upon which it was founded. The true believers in any political and economic ideology, be it capitalism, socialism, communism or terrorism, are always deeply committed to its continuing success and everlasting survival. On the other hand, when a people and their leaders begin to doubt their own political and economic doctrines, they seriously weaken that nation, making it more vulnerable to destructive influences from within and without.

America was established and built on individual liberty, free enterprise and limited government, principles that once were held in high esteem by all Americans. It prospered and became a mighty nation, the mightiest on earth, by following this unique and formerly vaunted body of tenets.

But now many, including the president, congressional leaders and federal justices, are losing faith in these cherished values that were instilled in us by our wise and courageous forebears. These perverse defectors want to turn us away from our traditional American values that have held us in good stead for so many years and embrace instead the bitter and toxic ideals of collectivism. If they succeed in making these ill-advised changes, they very quickly will turn America into a third-rate nation.

And that, my friends, not international terrorism, is the most critical danger currently facing America. Our highest leaders in Washington, men and women in whom we have entrusted our very lives and futures, are intentionally and maliciously undermining our nation’s strength, and placing us at a potentially fatal disadvantage in a cruel and highly competitive world where only the brave, the diligent and the sturdy survive and prosper.

Let us resolve today to reaffirm our nation’s traditional values, and to put our personal and political houses back in order. And I promise you that if we will do that, no enemy, foreign or domestic, will ever subdue or enslave us.

What Real Freedom Entails

2010-04-07T16:23:00.000-07:00

Allow me pose a few questions. How does our government expect to stimulate the econ-omy when it is doing everything within and beyond its power to kill individual initiative? Doesn’t it see that its actions will stymie rather than stimulate the economy? Does our government really believe that our citi-zens will remain bold, aggressive, enterpris-ing and industrious once it has gained the power to arbitrarily transfer much of what they earn and possess to someone else? Is our government really so stupid that it cannot see that these actions will greatly diminish a citizen’s incentive to work hard and make prudent choices?

Ask yourselves this: What drives people to work hard and plan prudently if it is not the hope of improving their condition? And what guarantee will they have that their condition will improve once they have lost the power to use their earnings and accumulated belongings as they see fit?

Are we gullible enough to fall for this nonsense? (I could have employed the barnyard term for “nonsense,” but out of a respect for my readers I chose not to.)

Just because a growing number of misguided fools in Washington think socialism has merit is no reason for us, the sensible working class, to buy into it. In fact, for what it’s worth, I would say their interest in pursuing it is reason enough for staying completely clear of it. After all, does any creature on the planet possess faultier judgment than a politician?

America was largely developed by the people, not by the government. Let us never forget that. The astonishing level of prosperity we have achieved and enjoyed over the years is the result of individual effort and sacrifice. It was not achieved through government control and planning. Ordinary people, all across America, were free to rise or fall based upon their personal abilities and determination. The majority, to one degree or another, survived and prospered. They endured the many uncertainties and hardships associated with pursuing their aspirations and dreams because they believed they, not their timid and idle neighbors, would reap the benefits of their efforts. This demanding process not only produced good and useful citizens, but it made America a great nation as well.

However, if we wish to remain great and to continue flourishing, it is absolutely vital that we remain free. Our citizens must be permitted to retain control over their own lives and destinies, as the founders intended. This will necessitate a dramatic reduction in both the size and power of government, which conversely will place more responsibility upon the shoulders of individual citizens, who no longer will have the luxury of ducking their civic and moral obligations. But that’s what real freedom entails, folks.

As for those among us who refuse to work, I guess they will just have to live off scraps and like it.

Better To Perish Than To Live As Slaves

2010-03-16T07:51:00.000-07:00

Some may disagree with what I am about to say, but the fact is, all people, wherever they may reside in the world, have chosen the govern-ment they live under. And it is not a choice made once and for all. Even small choices made over time may substantially alter or destabilize the most firmly established and well balanced govern-ments. Each day citizens may either resist changes to their existing political apparatus, sometimes strongly, or they may simply go along with them. In any event, they are making conscious choices, choices that will lead to a definite outcome.

Consider Germany in the 1930s. During hard economic times and a period of political and social unrest, the people of Germany stood at a crossroads. With a number of alternatives before them, they chose Nazism. Some actively chose it; others, the vast majority, chose it simply by giving in to it. Nevertheless, as a result of these collective choices, the German people opened the way for a charismatic figure, Adolf Hitler, to seize absolute control of their government. And once he had that control firmly vested in his hands, he wasted no time cajoling and bullying the largely decent citizens of Germany down a dangerous and desperate path, a path that ultimately led them to their downfall.

But let us return to the here and now, to the America of 2010. At this very moment, we, the current generation of Americans, are choosing by design or by default the government our children and grandchildren will live under. And it is this government that will determine to a very great extent the level of success, prosperity and personal fulfillment they will experience in their lives.

Though we obviously are not the Germans of the 1930s, there is no reason to suppose that we are any less susceptible to the blandishments of amoral and smooth-talking politicians, especially during difficult and uncertain times.

From a book entitled “As a Man Thinketh,” by James Allen, comes this unusual and thought-provoking quote: “It has been usual for men to think and to say, ‘Many are slaves because one man is an oppressor; let us hate the oppressor.’ Now, however, there is among an increasing few a tendency to reverse this judgment, and to say, ‘One man is an oppressor because many are slaves; let us despise the slaves.’”

I believe strongly that we in America are retreating steadily from our traditional values of independence and self reliance, and are adopting instead the mentality of slaves. More and more we yearn not for liberty, as our ancestors did, but for a life devoid of any real responsibility, a life where thinking for one’s self is largely unnecessary. But have we ever stopped to realize that by exhibiting this despicable behavior we may be inviting an oppressor to step in?

Americans, it is time to wake up! It is time to stop drifting with the current. It is time to begin resisting not only the slave-making policies of our government but our own wishful and impractical thinking. We must forthwith refrain from giving our government any indication whatsoever that we are composed of the material from which slaves can be made. We must let our representatives in Washington know, in no uncertain terms, that we still are proud and defiant Americans, Americans willing to fight for our precious liberties, the ones God granted to us and that were secured for us in our nation’s founding document, the Constitution.

Winston Churchill, no stranger to fighting tyrants, once said: “If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”

Let us hesitate no longer. The time to make a crucial decision has arrived. Let us this very day, this very moment, resolve to resist oppression and choose liberty, as those who went before us did.

"They tell us Sir, that we are weak -- unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature has placed in our power." -- Patrick Henry

The Magic of Modern Politics

2010-03-03T07:43:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows that the key to a magician’s so-called magic is distract-ing the audience. The magician cleverly draws the audience’s attention elsewhere during the critical moment when the deception is carried out.

Today many of our politicians employ techniques very similar to those used by the world’s greatest magicians. With the full aid and cooperation of the news media, they distract us by vociferously hyping problems--some real, some imaginary--while effectuating the magical disappearance of our God-given rights and freedoms.

They tell us, for example, that the globe is warming and that immediate and extreme measures must be taken to prevent it. Or they engineer a financial meltdown and then rush into law a series of stimulus packages that further weaken and undermine our once powerful and vibrant economy. More recently they have been attempting an unconstitutional takeover of our nation’s health care industry.

Make no mistake about it, each one of these contrived or trumped up “emergencies” is designed for one purpose only--to direct our attention away from their tyrannical ambitions. By creating uncertainty and fear, they convince us that the enactment of questionable and dangerous legislation is absolutely necessary to save our nation and the world.

But ask yourselves this, what are politicians gaining for themselves as they go about forging what they insist will be a better world? Answer: They are gaining control, ever more control. They are steadily removing control from our hands, the people’s hands, and consolidating it into their own.

That, my friends, is the “magic” of modern politics--the magic that currently is being performed daily with great success by such accomplished illusionists as Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi.

While they are distracting us with frightful tales of distant and imaginary catastrophes, and the amateurish antics of lesser bogeymen, these arch villains are looting our nation and its citizens on a scale never before imagined. And what is worse, they are insolently stomping upon and stealing our cherished American freedoms, the freedoms our ancestors gave their blood for.

Don’t let yourselves be taken in any longer by these cunning and ruthless con artists. Get your head someplace where you can see the whole picture.

And by all means do it before it’s too late to take meaningful action!

Make Do

2010-02-23T16:39:00.000-08:00

Here in Nevada, as in other states, our annual operating expenses have exceeded our projected tax revenue. I am told we have an $880 million shortfall to overcome.

Realistically there are only three ways to solve this problem: 1) raise taxes, 2) cut expenses, or 3) a combination of the two.

Already some individuals have voiced strong opposition to making cuts. They contend that doing so will undermine and compromise vital services. Perhaps it is only my imagination or a coincidence, but it seems me that some of the loudest cries of protest are coming from the administrators of agencies slated for cuts.

Certainly no one wants to see the level of any truly necessary public service diminished or curtailed. However, we all know that some fat exists in every public agency, fat that accumulated here and there when times were good. No department of government, at any level, is administered so efficiently and economically that waste cannot be found and cut.

With that in mind, I offer the following thoughts to those who oversee and administer departments within our state and local governments.

Stop grumbling and show us why someone once believed you were qualified for the job you now hold. Look to the future, not backwards. Acquire a new perspective. Become an innovator and a motivator. Be the kind of person who can get a lot accomplished with a little. Anyone can manage an organization when there is no shortage of funds or personnel, but only a few, a very talented and select few, can achieve great things when resources are scarce. By complaining, you are merely showing us that you are not one of those special people.

No one is happy with the predicament we currently are in, and there are plenty of theories regarding whose fault it is. But your job, for the time being, at least, is to make do with what you’re given until we can work through these difficult financial times.

If you can do that, you’re worthy of your salary. If you can’t, please stop trying to occupy a space that you obviously don’t have the professional stature to fill.

Photo: Heath E. Morrison, Washoe County School Superintendent

An Overbearing Majority

2010-02-17T18:21:00.000-08:00

Suddenly the Presi-dent says he’s will-ing to be-gin work-ing with Republi-cans. At least that’s what he says. We’ll see.

Maybe the public outrage finally became clear enough and loud enough that he decided to begin accepting input from all Americans, as well as all their elected representatives.

Though I may not be as well educated as our President, I thought that listening to all sides was the way it was supposed to be. I find it surprising that a man could rise to the highest elected office in the land and not be privy to that cherished and time-honored principle of fair play.

In America our system of government permits those in the minority to be heard. We are willing to listen to and consider what they have to say. Even the beliefs and views of Republicans must be taken into account when shaping public policy.

But our President was unwilling to do that until the public demanded it. What does that say about the man who currently resides in the White House?

Anytime an effort is made to limit the number of voices that may be heard in a society despotism is being advanced and democracy is being thwarted.

Do we really want a chief executive who has displayed a willingness to stifle open debate, a bedrock principle of democracy? Do we want men and women like that serving in the U.S. Congress?

I don’t think so. We’re Americans, not Russians or Chinese. Here in America, we the people like to be consulted when major changes are being contemplated. And we want our representatives in Congress to be permitted to represent us--fully and openly. Should not the voice of any and every duly elected representative be heard, including Republicans? Do they not, after all, represent American citizens?

Barack Obama and his cohorts in Congress were trying to rush health care reform into law before any significant objections could be made. That was wrong. It is not the way we Americans conduct our political business.

Hopefully the recent and despicable activities of Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have once again reminded Americans that what James Madison called an “overbearing majority” can be every bit as dangerous as an overbearing king.

And I hope too that we have been shaken back into the firm knowledge that we are the ultimate watchdogs of our government, and that we must remain ever on the job.

A Precious Resource

2010-02-07T07:43:00.000-08:00

A baby is born some-where in America. In this case, we will say it is a girl.

When she arrives, there is no warm or enthusi-astic welcome. She hears no comforting words. Her needs are largely ignored.

As she grows, she receives no positive attention. She receives no sincere help or encouragement. She is made to feel as though she is nothing but trouble, a tiresome burden.

In due time this baby girl reaches maturity and has a child of her own. In attempting to rear this child, the new mother has only her own hollow and discouraging experiences to draw upon, leaving her with little to offer her helpless and needy child.

Another valuable and promising human being is about to be wasted. Another small but indispensable element of society is about to be lost.

Do we not see that this must stop?

Every child in America is precious, a resource we can ill afford to toss aside. Each one must be lovingly nurtured and properly cared for. Each one must be developed to his or her fullest and highest potential. If we fail to do this, one day we will have only dysfunctional people in this country. And dysfunctional people can’t run a great nation. We already as seeing ample evidence of that.

Clearly the job of cultivating and developing a child falls primarily and naturally to its parents and its extended family. No one is in a better position to help a child, nor is anyone better suited for the task.

If you are a parent, a grandparent, an aunt, an uncle, or even a neighbor, start looking for ways you can help make a child’s life brighter and more hopeful.

We must see to it that every child in this country is placed upon a path aimed at making him or her a confident and capable human being, a human being that will be an asset to society rather than a liability.

It's Just That Simple

2010-01-26T16:32:00.000-08:00

Recently the election of Scott Brown in Massachu-setts sent a shock wave throughout the nation and the Democratic Party. But why was the outcome of that election not foreseen? Why did it come as such a surprise?

One reason--the prime reason--is that the news media is neglecting to do its whole job. The news media in their unchecked zeal to cover the president and promote his interests are failing to adequately cover the American people and their interests.

There are at least three sides to most political stories. 1) What the politicians are doing in Washington. 2) How the people back home are reacting to what they are doing. And 3) Why the people are reacting as they are. Our nation’s journalists, if they may be called that, are leaving out roughly two-thirds of every political story, which means they are concealing much more than they are revealing.

Take the health care legislation that recently passed through both houses of congress. Many of us have felt for quite some time that the nation as a whole was not supportive of those bills. Moreover, it seemed apparent that most Americans were unhappy with the unsavory tactics liberal politicians were employing to rush these unpopular pieces of legislation through. Had meaningful polls been taken by the news media, and their results truthfully and faithfully reported, I am fairly confident that the health care story would have played out much differently and the election of Scott Brown would not have been such a great surprise.

When the news media intentionally withholds part of a story, a crucial element of a story, it is guilty of misleading the public. And when that sort of insidious behavior becomes the norm rather than the exception, the news media ceases to be a news media and becomes a propaganda machine.

Can anyone doubt that a huge and vital portion of the health care story was the public’s overwhelmingly negative reaction to it. Why, then, do you suppose the news media chose to overlook it?

I believe the news media failed to tell that part of the story because it was in the best interest of their allies, the plotters and schemers in Washington, to do so. They simply didn’t want those who were adamantly opposed to this socialistic legislation to know that most of their neighbors also were adamantly opposed to it. That’s what it all came down to. They just didn’t want us to know what was going on. But isn’t faithfully reporting what is going on the true purpose of the news media?

Americans: It is time we realized that we are fighting a two-front war in this country. We not only are waging a deadly battle against political tyrants in high places but we also are locked in a desperate struggle with their dangerous and sociopathic collaborators in the news media.

If we are going to win this fight, we must work diligently together to soundly defeat those in Washington who are steadily undermining our way of life, and in so doing prove to their immoral accomplices in the news media that there is nothing to be gained by supporting crooked politicians and their schemes.

Governments intending to inflict harm and hardship upon their citizens need propaganda machines. Governments intending to do good don’t.

It’s just that simple.

A Consummate and Polished Liar

2010-01-18T09:41:00.000-08:00

Never before in the history of our nation have Americans put a bolder liar into the White House. Never before have we had a president who better understood what Americans want to hear and yet has been ever willing to do the very opposite in carrying out his self-centered and destructive agenda.

Be assured that any man exhibiting these traits and characteristics is a dangerous man. History records that every tyrant who ever lured a free people into bondage was a consummate and polished liar.

From President Obama’s White House website come these patently misleading statements concerning openness and transparency in his administration.

“My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.

“Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing. Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national asset. My Administration will take appropriate action, consistent with law and policy, to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public can readily find and use. Executive departments and agencies should harness new technologies to put information about their operations and decisions online and readily available to the public. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public feedback to identify information of greatest use to the public.

“Public engagement enhances the Government's effectiveness and improves the quality of its decisions. Knowledge is widely dispersed in society, and public officials benefit from having access to that dispersed knowledge. Executive departments and agencies should offer Americans increased opportunities to participate in policymaking and to provide their Government with the benefits of their collective expertise and information. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public input on how we can increase and improve opportunities for public participation in Government.

“Collaboration actively engages Americans in the work of their Government. Executive departments and agencies should use innovative tools, methods, and systems to cooperate among themselves, across all levels of Government, and with nonprofit organizations, businesses, and individuals in the private sector. Executive departments and agencies should solicit public feedback to assess and improve their level of collaboration and to identify new opportunities for cooperation.”

Now, my dear fellow citizens, contrast those glowing and inspiring words with the shameful manner in which our President and congressional Democrats currently are behaving as they underhandedly conduct the business of pushing through their widely unpopular health care reform package.

Am I incorrect or unfair in suggesting that our latest president is the boldest and most blatant liar ever to inhabit the White House?

Allow me to remind you once again that liars are dangerous people. Dishonesty and double-dealing are their stock-in-trade. If we hope to retain our precious freedoms much longer, we must waste no time in running these coarse degenerates out of Washington.

Someone once said that America will be the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. Wherever you are in this great country of ours, begin making a courageous stand--now!

Bear in mind that liberty is far too valuable a commodity to be possessed by those who are unwilling to preserve and defend it. Surely it will slip from our hands if we don’t rally together in these critical times.

Brazen Political Hypocrisy

2010-01-03T09:23:00.000-08:00

Everyone understands that times change. I think we all can accept that. But accommodat-ing new realities shouldn’t require a great and industrious people to give up their core values, the values that made them great. What I am saying is that it shouldn’t be necessary for Ameri-cans to dismantle and discard their one-of-a-kind Constitution and system of government in order to meet the challenges of a new era.

In a time when “preservation” has become a sacred byword, a religious chant, few politicians seem concerned about the steady erosion that is imperiling our special way of life. School children are daily taught, for example, that nothing should be permitted to threaten the existence of rain forests, polar ice sheets or the animals that inhabit those regions, yet they are not being candidly told how their own futures will be placed in serious jeopardy if we continue to encourage the ever increasing tangle of government regulations that already are smothering our precious freedoms. Innocent children all across America are being misled by a carefully crafted fairy tale, and we, their parents and grandparents, aren’t even putting forth a serious rebuttal to this shameless malarkey.

What happened to the Patrick Henrys of this world, the men and women who valued liberty more than life itself? I ask you, of what good will our lives be to us when we all become mere pawns in a vast, worldwide totalitarian system? We’ll never know whether Al Gore succeeded in saving the glaciers in Alaska or not because the propaganda ministry will be telling us not to worry, that all is well, that everything is under control. Just do as you’re told.

Come on, folks. We all know full well that creating a bigger and more meddlesome government isn’t the solution to our problems, the real ones or the make-believe ones. Why are we permitting these politicians to continue with this evil and dangerous deception? We all know deep inside that they are driven by an insatiable lust for power, not by a genuine desire to help their fellow human beings. Just look at them. What are they sacrificing to make the world better? They all are living like kings and queens, and behaving like them as well. Take the president, for example. If the nonstop burning of fossil fuels is endangering our planet, why didn’t he refrain from taking his family to Hawaii this Christmas? He could have made his decision not to travel there into an instructional opportunity. He could have told Americans that he and his family would be spending the holidays at the White House so Air Force One wouldn’t be spewing a noxious brown trail across the blue Pacific skies.

If there are problems to be solved, and there most certainly are, let us, as individual citizens, step forward and solve them. Let us become disciplined once again and begin making the voluntary individual choices and sacrifices necessary to set things straight.

Without question God gave each of us life and liberty. He gave us those gifts so we could pursue, and hopefully obtain, the things that have real and lasting value in this life, the things that bring genuine happiness to human beings.

Our current government, on the other hand, offers us only flimsy promises of a better life, promises that are neither real nor lasting.

We must without delay return to the government established by our Founders, the government that was willing to stand aside so men and women could make full use of God’s gifts, the government that was based upon individual initiative.

If we fail to do that, if we fail to wrestle power out of the hands of those who are misusing it, I can assure you that our children and grandchildren will be facing a future far more bleak and unpromising than the one currently faced by the world’s polar bears.

While Men Slept

2009-12-27T10:50:00.000-08:00

What follows is a message regard-ing our world and the condi-tions therein, as well as a forecast of what lies ahead. I quote from an impec-cable source: St. Matthew 13: 24-30.

“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.”

Fellow citizens: Wake up! An enemy is in our midst. But do not despair. A plan to thwart him, a plan imperceptible to human eyes and ears, is magnificently unfolding. That plan is in capable hands, and it is on track and on schedule.

Nevertheless, while we wait for the day of the harvest to arrive, if there is something you can do to help alleviate even a small portion of the fear, anxiety and suffering that currently abound in our world, among our fellowmen, please make yourself useful.

And then be content to leave the rest in God’s hands.

The Perfect Opportunity

2009-12-19T15:02:00.000-08:00

Twenty-ten is an election year. One-third of our U.S. Sen-ators, includ-ing public menace num-ber two, Harry Reid, and all members of the U.S. House of Represen-tatives are coming up for re-election. This sets up the perfect opportunity for all good Americans to muck out the stinking pile of excrement accumulating in Washington. As a grateful American and a native Nevadan, I would like to direct my remarks specifically at what I will call the “Harry Reid Problem.”

Though I have made an exhaustive study of the matter, I have failed to detect any virtues in our state’s senior senator. And now his unrelenting barrage of campaign commercials has removed any doubt whatsoever that modesty might be one of them.

Never before in the long and tortuous history of campaign advertising has anyone so blatantly and shamelessly portrayed himself as the indispensable conduit through which all things good and wonderful flow from the U.S. Treasury to the awaiting public.

And yet when you analyze it, what is he really doing to improve things? He is simply seizing other people’s money and handing it over to someone else, minus the huge portion wasted by the federal government. His contemptible scheme consist of nothing more novel or ingenious than that. Nevertheless, after each underhanded exchange is completed, he takes full personal credit for giving a helping hand to the needy, without even bothering to mention the heavy contribution borne by the great American working class, their children and grandchildren.

I ask you, is that your idea of true generosity? Is that your idea of genuine compassion? Is that your idea of real humility?

All we hear day in and day out is what Harry Reid is doing. Yes, we all can agree that Harry Reid is busy. He and his liberal cohorts are drawing closer to destroying America than any previous enemy ever has. Our challenge, our urgent challenge, is to get them busy doing something else, like licking their wounds and writing their memoirs.

If Harry Reid wants to be a generous benefactor, let’s remove him from the U.S. Senate and see what he can do as a private citizen. Let him put his own money where his big mouth is. If he wants to support incorrigible deadbeats, let him do it with his own ill-gotten riches. After all, somehow the man has succeeded in accumulating a fortune during a lifelong career as a “public servant.” Ever wonder how he did that?

There was a time when Nevada, the United States and the world were getting along just fine without Senator Harry Reid. Let us return to those blessed times.

As the popular bumper sticker says: “Vote for anyone BUTT Harry Reid!”

Fixing the Problem

2009-12-13T10:19:00.000-08:00

Some may ask, “How can we get ourselves out from under the heavy hand of the federal govern-ment?”

The answer is actually quite simple. We must stop doing the things we did to get ourselves under its heavy hand in the first place.

Most of today’s problems stem from our eagerness to accept help from the federal government. Had we been unwilling to do that, we would not be where we are today.

Furthermore, we should have advised the politicians who first made those clearly unconstitutional offers that it was inappropriate for them to be doing so, and that we would boot them out of office if they persisted in their un-American behavior.

Our Founders provided us with ample warning that politicians crave power. Yet we have permitted them through the years to inch closer and closer to gaining absolute control over us. And they have done this largely by offering us help, or perhaps I should say bait, that we stupidly accepted.

If we ever expect to get the government off our backs, we must start taking care of ourselves again, like our ancestors did. And when our neighbors are down, we must offer whatever help we can to them. We must work out our problems locally, as communities, rather than at the federal level. Experience has shown us that it is by far cheaper and more efficient to help a friend or neighbor directly than to invite an oversized and overbearing federal government to do it.

It is becoming quite apparent that the price we pay for running from our own and our neighbor’s problems is government intervention and control in all aspects of our lives, for we are being asked to part not just with our hard-earned dollars, but we are being asked to part with hard-earned liberties as well.

We must decide whether we want to go back to the old philosophy of solving our own and our community’s problems at the lowest possible level and retain control, or continue surrendering control to the federal government and live with all the many uncertainties and dangers that choice poses.

My advice: Get control back into our own hands and keep it there! To do this we must make every effort possible to ensure that we and those we are responsible for never become a burden on anyone else. Yet we always must be willing to reach out to friends and neighbors who despite their best efforts are unable temporarily or permanently to provide for themselves.

At first this may seem like the hard way of doing things, but in time I am confident we will realize it is the right way. And that is what is important. The Bible tells us that following the ways of truth will lead us to freedom. Therefore, we may conclude that following fallacies, no matter how inviting they may seem, will lead us into captivity.

And one more thing. At the next election we must mercilessly vote out all those in Washington who have an uncontrollable penchant for “helping.” Contrary to what they may be saying, these misguided souls ( I could use a much less flattering word) are not helping. They are driving our once great nation into economic and moral bankruptcy.

We need to start realizing that, and act accordingly. Then we’ll be doing something tangible and meaningful to extricate ourselves from our current predicament.

Let’s be upfront about this, we can’t go on accepting handouts from our government and expect its size and power to diminish.

“They have rights who dare maintain them.” --James Russell Lowell

The New Values of a New Order

2009-12-05T17:13:00.000-08:00

I am a victim of an out-dated education and up-bringing.

I was taught that America is the land of the free and that we are fortunate to live here. I was taught that our system of government is superior to any on earth. I was taught that I am a human being, and that as such I am endowed by my Creator with certain inalienable rights, rights the government can’t take from me. I was taught that our government is a government of the people, by the people and for the people, that its just and lawful powers are on loan from us and that we are still the title holders. I was taught that our Constitution is the supreme law of the land and worthy of our continuing respect and devotion. I was taught that the President and all elected and appointed officers of government are but public servants, bound by the Constitution and answerable to the people. I was taught that our Founding Fathers were brave, wise and honorable men, men who wanted to secure and pass on to their posterity the priceless blessings of liberty.

Now, however, I am being advised that these principles and ideals I was taught in my youth are both wrong and dangerous, that we are entering into a new era of enlightenment in which my stubborn adherence to them will only hinder our advancement as a people.

You see, for the first time in human history, or so the story goes, a choice group of politicians and media luminaries have evolved into a master race, wholly and unquestionably superior to all the rest of us. These great men and women, acting in their official capacities as supreme beings, now are able to discern from heretofore unreachable heights what man never before has clearly seen nor fully understood; namely, that it is order, not liberty as was once believed, that mankind is sorely in need of. So that is what these high-minded and noble personages mean to secure for us and our posterity--the blessings of order.

The question now is, where do these astonishing revelations leave those of us who were born prior to the dawn of this bright new age, those of us who were grievously misled by our parents and school teachers, those of us who didn’t have access to the unimaginable advantages of today’s children?

Well, this is how I look at our dilemma. We can only hope that our new, all-wise and beneficent president will see our plight and take pity on us, that he will kindly send us to government administered reeducation centers where our obsolete beliefs and values can be washed thoroughly from our brains, and where we can be instructed in the new values of a new order, and be molded into the obedient and unquestioning world citizens he wants us to be.

I don’t know how the rest of you are coping with these new political and economic discoveries, but I don’t mind telling you that I could use some serious help making the necessary adjustments. My problem is that no matter how hard I try, I just can’t seem to shake this crazy, recurring thought from my head that President Obama’s new vision for America and the world is nothing more than socialism and tyranny concealed under a fresh coat of paint.

Every day I fight these delusions. Believe me, I really do. But until I can receive some government approved and regulated counseling, all I can do is keep reminding myself over and over again that these hallucinations are merely the result of my substandard mid-20th century upbringing.

They Still Belong To Him

2009-11-26T06:17:00.000-08:00

There was a time in America when most people under-stood that the bounties of earth came from God. That is why, as a nation, we have a special day set aside for giving thanks.

Now, however, with stiff competition coming from the federal government, it is difficult for some to remember the source of our blessings or to whom we should be expressing our gratitude.

So when or if you find yourself in doubt, just remember this. God created the earth. It was He who placed the bounties here. Each one of the earth’s resources, or any combination thereof, that we draw upon for our daily survival and comfort are His. Granted, control over their distribution may be shifting steadily into the hands of the federal government, but that does not alter the fact that they still belong to Him.

So today as you gather your loved ones around you to partake of what God has generously provided you with, remember that it is April 15th, not Thanksgiving Day, that we render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s.

Today a simple but heart-felt thank you to God should be sufficient.

The Liberal's Endless Quest for Power

2009-11-23T07:01:00.000-08:00

Among the arguments, albeit flimsy ones, made by those who favor a massive and unprecedented govern-ment reform (read that “takeover”) of our nation’s health care system is that the preamble to the Constitution and its “commerce clause” empower the government to do so.

Our Founders, being the wise realists they were, knew that they, or any other humans, were incapable of creating a perfect union. So in the preamble to the Constitution they said their goal in establishing it was to form a “more perfect” one, one that among other things would “promote the general welfare.” Italics added.

To most of us the word “promote” means to encourage and nurture; the word “general” means overall and nonspecific.

With those clear-cut and straightforward definitions in mind, could anyone but a power grabbing liberal suppose that the preamble authorizes our government to start its own insurance company?

Okay, so much for the preamble argument. Now, let’s turn our attention to the Constitution’s commerce clause. This is what it says: “The Congress shall have the Power…To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.”

Now, I know liberals are weird. They go well out of their way each day to demonstrate that, but can’t they see any difference between regulating commerce and engaging in it? And can’t they see any conflict of interest in the regulators competing directly with the privately owned commercial enterprises they are authorized to regulate?

I am not a Constitutional scholar. I’m just an old guy who lives out in the middle of Nevada. But I think it’s quite clear that what our Founders were saying in the preamble and the commerce clause falls far short of what Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and their over zealous gang of meddlers and manipulators now are reading into to those terse and unambiguous passages.

Certainly there is nothing in them to suggest that government may step in and compete with lawfully run businesses just because it believes they are failing to adequately meet the public’s needs.

And didn’t the Founders make it clear that they were creating a “limited” government, a government that would “secure the Blessings of Liberty?” That’s also in the preamble.

Maybe I’m missing something here, but it would seem to me that permitting the federal government to continue arrogating power to itself is not the way to secure liberty!

With so much written in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights about restraining government and advancing freedom, why is it that liberals always choose to overlook what is so obvious? What morbid need drives them to search frantically and endlessly for nonexistent powers in obscure places? Are they all suffering from diseased minds or are they intentionally and craftily attempting to transform the government of the United States into a socialistic regime?

Please think it over. I think I see a pattern of abuse emerging here.

Masked Intentions

2009-11-15T07:21:00.000-08:00

More than ever before, our government is requiring the “Haves” to share with the “Have-Nots.” It claims it wants to level “the playing field,” playing field being a euphemism for our nation’s economy. In other words, it’s not done meddling.

However, it seems to be of no apparent concern to the government that some of the Have-Nots are unwilling to live prudently or work for a living. Nor does the government seem particularly concerned that some of the Haves are growing sick and tired of being forced to share with their careless and unmotivated neighbors. Despite these obvious and legitimate concerns, our government is hell-bent on carrying out this ill-advised and controversial program of exchange, which in countries where the politicians are slightly more honest is called socialism.

But whatever you wish to call it, the most frightening element I see in all this is that we are permitting our government to assume extraordinary and excessive power. We are giving it the power to confiscate--repeat, confiscate--wealth and property. Do we really believe that’s a good idea? Of all the creatures on God’s green earth, are politicians the ones we want to hand this kind of power over to?

Think about it. This year the government is confiscating the outrageous bonus of a greedy corporate executive. No one feels sorry for him because he is a greedy corporate executive. But what about next year, when the government is confiscating your paltry annual bonus, a bonus you sorely need to replace the furnace in your home?

Aren’t we savvy enough to the ways of the world to realize that giving the government the power to determine when someone has too much is not in our long-term best interest? Don’t we understand that giving the government this kind of power will one day backfire on us?

This isn’t about sharing wealth. This is about concentrating wealth, concentrating it into the hands of a select few so they may have it all. The politicians are merely using the ruse of helping the poor and punishing the wealthy in order to gain power, the power to completely manipulate the so-called playing field. Once they have gained that power, which is their ultimate goal, be assured that they will waste no time in revamping our economy in such a way that America’s now widely dispersed wealth will be drawn quickly and effortlessly from our pockets and funneled forthwith into theirs, or more precisely into the pockets of those for whom they work.

If we don’t put a stop to this chicanery soon, expect to find yourself among a very large and growing number of Have-Nots. And don’t expect the shrinking number of Haves to share their exorbitant and rapidly accumulating wealth with you, or to be concerned in the least about the sudden and dramatic increase in the elevation at their end of the playing field.

By that time the game will be over and the masks will be taken off, for there no longer will be any need for masks. By that time the masterminds behind this nefarious scheme will have us, the heedless and the stupid, where they want us--in shackles.

For the sake of your survival and your posterity’s, learn to be a little more suspicious, especially of politicians, the most cunning, deceptive and dangerous animals on earth.

Join the Fight to Save America!

2009-11-11T07:04:00.000-08:00

Over the years since the birth of our nation, many threats to our safety and well being have come. One such threat was launched on December 7, 1941. For the United States, the attack on Pearl Harbor marked the beginning of World War II, a global conflagration that put our country and way of life at grave risk.

One of our nation’s first meaningful responses to that fast moving and escalating danger was made on August 7, 1942 with the invasion of Guadalcanal. On that day, 11,000 U.S. Marines were put ashore on that obscure, malaria ridden island. By the second and third days, fierce clashes between U. S. and Japanese aerial and naval forces caused our carrier task force and supply ships to withdraw, leaving our marines stranded and desperately short of supplies. Nevertheless, they did not despair. Instead, they fought, and fought hard. For much was at stake.

The battle for Guadalcanal lasted six months. During that time reinforcements and additional supplies gradually trickled in. Many savage battles were fought on land, sea and in the air. But in the end the Japanese were driven from the island and, with its occupation, the tide of battle in the Pacific began subtly shifting in our favor.

Was it easy? No. Many American lives were lost, and those who survived suffered unimaginably. But an important victory in a long war was achieved. America and her people were made a little safer, a little more secure, by the courageous actions of those marines on that distant island and in that desperate hour.

Now, only sixty-seven years later, our generation stands face to face with another threat, a threat every bit as dire and sinister as the one thrust upon our country by the Axis Powers in World War II. I speak of the threat from within. I speak of the ruthless and relentless assaults being made upon our nation’s very heart and core, the Constitution, by elected officials sworn to uphold it. These men and women in high places pretend to be good and faithful servants, but their perverse and persistent actions reveal an unmistakable pattern that leads the vigilant among us to one inescapable conclusion: These turncoats intend to destroy America. Therefore, like those who went before us, we are left with no recourse but to fight for our survival. We have arrived at another crucial turning point in American history.

So where do we begin? Our first mission in this bizarre and emerging conflict will be to thoroughly expose the enemy, for many of our friends and neighbors still are blind to the threat that surrounds us. They must be awakened, energized and mobilized quickly into an army of outraged and resolute citizens, citizens willing to make any sacrifice necessary to save the Constitution and our special way of life that rests upon it.

Then we must strike back with every legitimate means and tool at our disposal, and keep hitting, hard and sure, though the road ahead may seem long, grim and arduous. To do otherwise would be an insult to the brave men who seized Guadalcanal from the Japanese at a time when the fate of the world hung precariously in the balance. Those men fought nobly and unrelentingly to keep freedom and democracy alive in the world. And they did it with the odds squarely against them and while enduring unspeakable horrors and hardships. Will we let them down? Will we, now that it is our turn to fight, forget the gallant battle they waged? Will we simply hand over to our current foes that which those brave and loyal men fought so hard to preserve? Or will we be inspired and vitalized by their example?

I say, let us take heart from their splendid example, and overthrow these despots in sheep’s clothing just as our fathers and grandfathers threw back the Japanese. This is not an attack upon a naval base in Hawaii, this is an attack upon our Constitution!

On this Veterans’ Day, let us remember and pay tribute to those gallant men living and dead who fought on Guadalcanal. And to all those who have fought and sacrificed around the world to keep America free. But let us show our thanks not by mere flag waving alone but by doing our utmost now to preserve our precious freedoms so they may be passed undiminished to our posterity.

Unlike the battle waged on Guadalcanal, this is not yet a call to arms; rather, it is an urgent and peaceable plea to support and perpetuate the system of government wisely formulated by our Founding Fathers. This we can do systematically and successfully at the ballot box if we are organized and united.

Remember, freedom is not free. Every generation or so, a select few, a favored few, must pay an installment. It is now our turn. We must not waver; we must not despair; we must not turn away. For much is at stake.

Join the fight to save America!

A New World Order

2009-11-05T08:17:00.000-08:00

Unless you have come out of a de-cade-long coma re-cently, you doubt-less have heard the terms
“World Order,” One World Order,” or “New World Order.”

Some may dispute whether a purposeful and bona fide effort is being made to formulate and implement such an order; however, may I suggest to you that the very existence of a United Nations serves as definite and material proof that more than a casual effort is being expended to create one. Moreover, the words “world order” seem to be issuing forth from politicians mouths with ever-increasing regularity these days.

It is not my intention at this time to call into question whether the implementation of a one world order is vitally necessary or not. In my opinion, it is not a world order that we should be in fear of. Indeed, a world order may actually be a good idea.

The question, rather, that we currently should be asking ourselves is whether we have advanced sufficiently as human beings to provide the kind of leadership necessary to successfully run a world order; that is, run it in a manner and on a basis whereby we all are much better off with it than without it.

Human beings, after all, have grave, serious and obvious flaws and limitations. For example, we still are greedy; we still are selfish; we still are petty; we still are intolerant; we still are hateful; we still are imperious; we still are stupid.

Who, therefore, from among us would possess the moral and intellectual qualifications to lead and manage such a powerful and colossal organization? Who and where are the wise and self-sacrificing elder statesmen fit to take on such an important and challenging task--Bill Clinton, George Bush, Al Gore, Dick Cheney?

When you look at it that way, the idea of a new world order seems rather ludicrous, doesn’t it? And also very premature.

My opinion? Let’s wait awhile. Maybe if we’re lucky, in a thousand years or so, an honorable man may come along.

In the meantime, consider this: “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.”

God Save the Constitution

2009-11-02T06:33:00.000-08:00

The British have a say-ing: “God save the King.” I suppose that’s okay if you have a king and are labor-ing under the misconception that he is necessary to your survival, but we Americans have something far better than a king. We Americans have a Constitution, so our daily and fervent prayer ought to be: “God save the Constitution.”

You see, the reason our Constitution is vastly superior to a king is because our Constitution is what stands in the way of anyone ever becoming a king (or queen) in this country. But in order for our Constitution to be effective, we must employ it. And that’s where we’ve been letting ourselves and our founding ancestors down. We haven’t been taking full advantage of the priceless gift they left to us. We haven’t been demanding that our political leaders adhere strictly to its terms. Foolishly, we have been allowing them to break their contract with us. That is why they’ve been able to make so many pernicious inroads into our freedoms. While we were sleeping and getting “cash for clunkers,” they, like hungry termites, were hard at work boring holes in our Constitution.

People who were born free, as we Americans were, have no use for a father-figure looking over us. We don’t need a king. We prize our independence and freedom far more than any false sense of security an earthly king might provide us with. And from a purely personal standpoint, I would just like to say that I wouldn’t want to be staking my future happiness and welfare, or the future happiness and welfare of my children, on the hoped for benevolence and generosity of a king. Rather, I hope I would always possess the gumption and grit to make my own way in the world, without stooping down to accept bogus dollars from a bankrupt federal government--bogus dollars that have many dangerous and entangling strings attached.

And if at some point I refuse to go on taking care of myself, I fully understand and accept the fact that I will have to live in the unfavorable circumstances and squalor I have created through my own indolence. After all, why should I expect to be rewarded by my government for being incompetent and lazy, especially when that reward will have to come at the expense of someone who is not incompetent and lazy--someone who is enterprising, bold and daring. Why should the government be permitted to permanently break that person’s spirit in order to temporarily boost mine? Someone’s got to produce the wealth in this country and God knows the government can’t do it.

Our Founders knew that nature and nature’s God would reward the persistent and the industrious. Therefore, they saw no need for the federal government to get into the middle of this divinely ordained equation and throw it all out of balance. And look at the many national and personal blessings we have reaped as a result of their uncanny wisdom and astonishing insight. We have become the most richly blessed country in all the world.

But we Americans must remember one thing: We were created by God, who is the omnipotent Ruler over all things seen and unseen. As His creation, we belong to Him. Therefore, our first and ultimate allegiance must always be to Him. He is our King. He is our Savior. He is our Deliverer. So long as we have faith in Him, we may confidently reject the spurious promises made to us by smooth-talking charlatans, men who yearn to be kings, men who yearn even to be gods over all the earth.

If we truly wish to successfully resist and defeat tyrants, we must return to God and the Constitution. There and there alone is where genuine safety lies, despite what the so-called elite of this country are shouting at us day in and day out.

“No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.”--George Washington, first inaugural address

As Sound as a Dollar

2009-10-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

You may have you heard the expression: “As sound as a dollar.”

A sound dollar is the kind of dollar our grandparents had. A sound dollar is a dollar that holds a fixed value. A sound dollar is a dollar people can have faith in--both here and abroad.

Anyone who has been around a while knows that a new car costing $3,000 forty years ago may now cost as much as $30,000. Granted, auto workers earn more today, but on the other hand, cars are constructed of cheaper materials. Moreover, cost-efficient robotic machines do much of the work. So what’s up here?

The fact is, a U.S. dollar simply is not worth as much as it was forty years ago. Therefore, it takes many more of them to purchase a new car. Or anything else, for that matter.

Now let’s view this from another angle, the working person’s angle. There was a time when a man earned $3.00 an hour and could barely support his family. Now a man must earn $20.00 an hour and his wife $10.00 an hour, or vice versa, to make ends meet. That’s how we maintain some semblance of economic stability in our lives. We dicker and fight with our employer for a pay raise. And when it comes, if it comes, it comes in the form of devalued dollars. So the long-awaited pay raise turns out not to be a pay raise after all.

Some things have intrinsic value; that is, by their very nature they possess value. This is because people just seem to want those things. And that’s the key, people have to want something in order for it to have value.

Gold and silver, for example, have intrinsic value. Since the beginning of time human beings have wanted to possess gold and silver. When U.S. dollars contained gold and silver they had intrinsic value, value that went beyond that which was established by the government.

Even when the dollar was merely anchored to gold and silver, it retained its value. It still possessed intrinsic value because it was associated in people’s minds with gold and silver. In those days, a paper dollar could be exchanged for a silver one because a paper dollar was a “Silver Certificate,” not a “Federal Reserve Note” as it is today.

Now, due to poor leadership at the highest levels of our government, our country is deep in debt--so far in debt that some in the world wonder if we have the resolve to correct the situation. Even so, and with disaster looming, our government recklessly continues on with its shortsighted borrowing and spending rampage.

You see, now that our dollars aren’t anchored to anything of genuine value, when our government thinks it needs more money, it simply prints some. Where do you suppose all that “stimulus” money came from?

Unfortunately, printing more money is a little like watering down booze. The watered down booze just doesn’t possess the same kick as the 100 proof stuff. And neither do dollars watered down daily with a steady stream of newly printed ones.

That is why a “Federal Reserve Note” is no longer held in high esteem, at home or abroad. That is why merchants the world over demand ten times as many dollars for an item now than they did forty years ago. There’s just too many dollars out there in relation to the number of goods and services that currently are available.

Returning to the booze analogy, our money is no longer 100 proof money; it is now 10 proof money. Could it be put any more simply or graphically?

But what is worse than our perpetual inflation problem--which primarily is fueled by too much money being in circulation--is that now a growing number of the world’s central banks don’t want our dollars. They simply don’t want them. They have no faith in them. Instead they are favoring yens and euros as their reserve currency. This is alarming news because since the end of World War II, the American dollar has been the preferred reserve currency of most central banks.

Now remember, for a thing to possess value, someone has to want it. So when foreign countries refuse to accept U.S. dollars, and demand instead yens or euros, where do you suppose that puts us in the world marketplace?

Well, I’m not an economist, but I’m almost certain it won’t make our lives any easier.

My advice: Begin sending strong and repeated messages to Washington to put our economic house in order, or start learning to say: “As sound as a euro.”

The Generosity of Government

2009-10-12T10:21:00.001-07:00

One of the things Americans seem to be forgetting as their gov-ernment continues to balloon crazily out of control is that govern-ment is force. At least that is how our first president viewed it.

An enormous degree of power is vested in government, even the ones believed to be benevolent. Everyone knows, for example, that a government can compel its citizens to obey its laws, whether those laws be reasonable or unreasonable. In fact, government may severely punish you, even hang you in some instances, if you refuse to submit to its demands.

With that in mind, let us examine how our government grants wishes to those it deems “underprivileged.”

When our government decides to bestow a special benefit or entitlement upon a particular segment of society, it does so at the expense of another. That is because government does not and cannot create wealth. Government squeezes its income out of the incomes of its working citizens, those who have been prudent, those it deems “rich.” What it can’t extract that way, it borrows--to be paid back by those same industrious, hardworking citizens.

So next time you hear the president or a member of congress bragging about what he or she is going to do to help someone, remember that the funds necessary to pay for that so-called good deed will have to be picked from the pocket of another citizen, or maybe even from the pockets of his or her yet unborn children and grandchildren.

But what if that other citizen doesn’t wish to contribute to this latest cause? What if he doesn't agree with the philosophy behind it? What if he is growing tired of having his pockets picked?

The force of government will be applied, for that is how the generosity of government is made possible.

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." --George Washington

The Blessings of Liberty

2009-09-30T15:20:00.000-07:00

Thomas Jefferson made it clear in the Consti-tution’s preamble that it was written to, among other things, “se-cure the Blessings of Liberty to our-selves and our Posterity.”

To have liberty means to be able to act without undue hindrance or restraint. To secure something means to lock it into place.

With that in mind, can anyone doubt that the central objective of Thomas Jefferson and the other Founders was to keep Americans free forever of unnecessary and unreasonable government interference?

This is not an obscure detail in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. It is the all-encompassing and pervasive theme around which our entire system of government is built. Therefore, it is surprising to a great many of us that it has escaped the attention of such a large number of our recent and current leaders in Washington.

Keeping government small and innocuous, after all, is why our Founding Fathers went to the trouble of drawing up a written contract between citizens and government. That is why they erected so many safeguards around our precious liberties and set up so many barriers to government expansion.

They knew, as we ought to know, that ambitious and unscrupulous men and women live in every generation and every age, men and women who pose as champions of the people by offering them insubstantial and fleeting security in exchange for priceless and hard-won freedoms.

Over the years members of congress, presidents and supreme court justices, while serving in their official capacities, have acted in ways that have seriously diminished the rights of citizens while enlarging the power and scope of government.

I suppose we could be lenient and excuse their conduct by saying these decisions undoubtedly were made in ignorance. But are members of congress, presidents and supreme court justices supposed to be ignorant? When they seek or accept these high offices do they not lead us into the belief that they are the most worthy, wise and eminently qualified citizens in all the land? And if their assessment of themselves is correct, is it unreasonable to assume that they possess at the very least some small understanding of and appreciation for our Constitution, the document upon which our entire philosophy of government rests and which they swear before their fellow citizens and God to uphold?

Admittedly, correctly interpreting the Constitution could in certain instances and cases prove difficult, but should there ever be any doubt in anyone’s mind about what the Founders wanted most for American citizens, among them their own children and grandchildren? Doesn’t the whole tone and tenor of everything written by our Founders, beyond their mere words, resound with liberty?

Would it be asking too much then that when members of congress are debating and enacting a law, a president is executing a law or a supreme court justice is interpreting a law that they keep their eyes squarely focused upon this one preeminent fact--that our Constitution was written to secure the blessings of liberty?

Barnyard Wisdom

2009-09-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

Recently there was a huge gathering at our nation’s capital of concerned citizens who have come to the realization that their once-limited government has mushroomed into something much too big, much too unwieldy, much too expensive and much too intrusive. These astute citizens also know that their government has a long and dismal record of hastily implementing costly and convoluted programs that exacerbate rather than solve problems.

In the period immediately following this orderly rally, some in the news media were attempting to portray these patriotic citizens--who had every right to assemble--as a disgruntled and meaningless bunch of radicals, a mere fringe group on the outer margins of society whose simple-minded 18th century views on politics were distinctly out of harmony with today’s more stylish, regal, paternalistic and avant-garde approach to ruling people. There were further insinuations that the march was motivated not by patriotism but by racism, even though many blacks were clearly in attendance.

Mislabeling and mischaracterizing those who stand in the way of advancing tyranny is not an unfamiliar tactic. Anyone who has studied even recent history knows that this tactic was employed with great success during the last century by Communists and Nazis alike. Though clever, the tactic essentially boils down to this: an unscrupulous and unhesitating willingness to engage in boldfaced lying.

As a reminder to everyone, just let me emphasize this. From the outset our government was never intended to be unnecessarily large or meddlesome. The Founders knew they could either have a big government that granted few individual liberties or a limited government that granted a great many individual liberties. They chose the latter and we have been richly blessed for it.

The recent demonstration in Washington was nothing more nor less than a legitimate means of emphatically conveying to our chief executive and lawmakers an important and urgent message: “You are leading this nation off course!”

Though some may have forgotten it, in this country the government is not permitted to wield absolute power. In America the government is authorized to exercise only those enumerated powers surrendered to it by the people and specified in writing in the Constitution.

Rather than casting doubt on those who are lawfully attempting to preserve our system of government, it would seem to me we ought to be questioning the motives of those who are using illegitimate means to pervert and destroy it. Since when is forsaking long-established values and principles considered to be more honorable and brave than standing up for them?

What is happening before our very eyes is that many of our political leaders and their accomplices in the news media are turning reality up-side-down. In order to make us believe that free enterprise is bad and collectivism is good they are subtly redefining terms--cleverly using what George Orwell called “newspeak.”

Don’t be taken in by it! It’s a shame that fewer and fewer Americans are capable of distinguishing truth from the stuff bulls leave behind, but nevertheless that seems to be the case.

Perhaps the day will come when spending four days in a barnyard will prove more beneficial to citizens than spending four years at Harvard.

Education Breakdown

2009-09-13T08:08:00.000-07:00

America is in a state of decline. Countless individuals in and out of govern-ment are respon-sible for this condi-tion; however, today I wish to single out the dereliction of one special group--those who earn their livelihood as educators of our children. And I am not speaking of our nation’s teachers alone, but of the misguided PhDs who formulated and implemented our modern-day educational curricula.

When those entrusted with the critical task of faithfully passing on a clear understanding of our nation’s special legacy failed to do so, the spirit that had energized and animated Americans since 1776 began to be extinguished. And as a result of their inexcusable carelessness, we now have an entire generation of Americans partially or completely devoid of any meaningful understanding of how or why America developed into the distinct and special nation it did--a land of unparalleled freedoms and almost limitless opportunities.

When patriotism went out of style, when it became more fashionable to be cynical rather than optimistic, when it became more trendy to speak about what was wrong in America rather than what was right--and there was and still is so much that is right--that is when our uniquely American sense of identity and pride began to be smothered out--smothered out by the very individuals charged with keeping it alive.

Please understand this: The life-sustaining heart of a nation, any nation, is composed of its deeply committed citizens who firmly believe in the principles upon which their government was founded. Not surprisingly, when you begin reducing the number of those steady and stalwart citizens, the nation’s moral, political, and economic health starts to deteriorate. If no meaningful action is taken to arrest the condition, the afflicted nation soon becomes gravely ill and may ultimately die. And although it is true that another form of government may rise up to replace the one that preceded it, that which replaces it may be rank and bitter indeed--a system so foul and repugnant that brute force must be applied to implement it.

To prevent America from dying, and hopefully that is what we all earnestly desire, we must without delay begin fostering once again in our children and grandchildren a sincere love of country. Not a blind fanaticism but a sincere devotion and respect based upon knowledge. And we must further make it clear that those currently holding positions in government are but the present caretakers of government and not the government itself. To be sure, office holders may be flawed, some seriously, but our government “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” is not seriously flawed. It is all anyone acquainted with the governments of the world, past and present, could ever hope for.

So let us join together as concerned Americans and get this vital project underway. For if we fail to act, there soon will be no one left willing to make the sacrifices necessary to promote America’s welfare or to ensure its survival.

Hopefully, there still are enough Americans out there, both young and old, imbued with a sufficient level of commonsense and patriotism to roll back this alarming and potentially deadly trend. We must all recognize that the preservation of America lies in the hands of our rising generations, and that we must equip them with the knowledge, skills, tools and spirit necessary to survive and succeed in a highly competitive and constantly changing world.

Of the Few, By the Few and For the Few

2009-09-03T09:37:00.000-07:00

The form of govern-ment Americans live under is called a con-stitutional republic. In America we maintain order through a willing-ness by everyone to live according to an agreed upon set of laws. The solid, bedrock foundation of those laws is the Constitution.

Laws govern behavior. They determine what is appropriate and what is inappropriate. They set standards and limits. They create fair and equitable ways of doing things.

Years ago, the Founding Fathers of this great nation established in writing an agreed upon set of rules for government. In this code of rules--the Constitution--the Founders yielded to government only a small number of specific and limited powers. All the remaining powers were left to the states or to the people. Compared with other governments in the world, theirs was extremely rare and remarkable.

Sadly, not every U.S. president has strictly abided by the rules set forth in the Constitution or lived up to his oath of office. Many have performed well below expectations. But our current president, without any question or doubt, surpasses them all. Almost daily, our new president demonstrates in some way or other that he doesn’t believe it is absolutely necessary to confine himself to just those powers granted to him by the Constitution. Instead, he has shown us that he believes he may unilaterally exert power far beyond the wise and time-honored Constitutional limits set by our Founders.

This leads one to the inescapable conclusion that he considers himself to be above the law and superior to the rest of us. His behavior and attitude tell us that he is not a democrat, at all, but an elitist, someone who believes firmly in a government of the few, by the few and for the few.

And what is so utterly fascinating about all this is that no one is seriously challenging his deviant behavior. He is exhibiting a blatant disregard for long-established rules--for Constitutional boundaries--and yet no one seems to be very alarmed. And the president himself arrogantly acts as though no explanation of his behavior is necessary. If you were to mention the Constitution to him, he probably would be insulted by your insolence.

But let me ask you this. How does our new president expect to govern others and maintain order in our society when he himself will not be constrained by law?

Well, let me take a wild guess.

It appears as though he intends, with the aid and backing of the gang of cronies and crooks he works for, to push America and Americans one step closer to a new system of government, a system of government so powerful and so pervasive that gaining and holding the trust and support of its citizens will no longer be necessary.

If you think that’s far fetched, please think again.

It's Time We Found Out

2009-08-24T09:01:00.000-07:00

It is becoming increasingly apparent that a significant number of our representatives in Washington are working for someone other than their constituents back home. I don’t know who is buying members of Congress, or how much they cost, but someone has outbid us. Someone, it would seem, is willing to pay a great deal more for their services than we are.

Now I know we could call the behavior of these “public servants” shocking, reprehensible and treacherous, for it most certainly is, but perhaps we just need to suck it up and face reality. Perhaps we’re just going to have to try to buy these slippery, double-crossing charlatans back.

Without question a venture of this kind will be costly--both in time and money. No one is disputing that. But in the long run it may turn out to be a whole lot cheaper to purchase back these turncoats, and put them to work for us again, than to have things remain as they are now.

So here is my proposal. Maybe some of you will have a better idea, but this is mine: In order to acquire the necessary funds, we could initiate state-wide fund raisers in every city--large and small. Well, why not? There are any number of ways to pick up a loose quarter here and a spare dime there. For example, we could put people out on busy street corners, like the Salvation Army does at Christmastime, with signs that read: “Please help us buy back Senator Harry Reid!” Additionally, families could forego a vacation and donate the money they saved, or women could take in laundry. And kids--even small ones--could get after-school jobs. We could then take the funds generated from these various endeavors, pool them, and use the proceeds to buy back our representatives in Washington.

Okay, I know what you’re thinking. Taking on a task of this nature and magnitude will involve making painful sacrifices and bearing countless hardships. But again, I ask you. Will these sacrifices and hardships be any greater than the ones we now are enduring, and will go on enduring, if our government officials continue to work against us instead of for us?

I say let’s stop grumbling and get this disagreeable but necessary project underway. We’ve got work to do, friends. So don’t delay! Don’t hesitate! Break the news to your family that Disneyland is out of the question this year, stock up on more laundry detergent, and find the kids’ social security cards.

It’s time we found out once and for all what U.S. Senators are selling for in today’s market.

“Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day.” --Theodore Roosevelt, April 19, 1906

To Save A Great Nation

2009-08-16T06:05:00.000-07:00

In the past I have written about Harry Reid. (Please refer to Feb. 2, 2009 post). I don’t like writing about Harry Reid because writing about Harry Reid inevitably requires the mentioning of offensive matter processed by the bowels. Nevertheless, I believe it is time we return to the unpleasant subject of Harry Reid.

Harry Reid is coming up for reelection on November 2, 2010, and although I understand, as we all do, that excrement happens, I don’t believe it should occupy a seat in the U.S. Senate. So here is an opportunity for us to flush Harry Reid down the toilet and put him in the septic tank with other raw sewage where he belongs.

Okay, now that we have the really repugnant part of this out of the way, let us get on with the milder, though no less important, aspects of our case against Harry Reid.

We Americans seem temporarily to have lost our sense of priorities and proportions. We are more concerned about the qualifications of airline pilots, train engineers and bus drivers than we are with the qualifications of those we entrust with the important job of guiding our great nation. For instance, we didn’t know diddly squat about Barack Obama’s personal and political background, and still don’t, yet we elected him to the highest political post in the land.

This isn’t the way it is supposed to be, dear friends. The people--we the people--are supposed to be thoroughly and meticulously scrutinizing candidates before electing and reelecting them to public office. This entails, for the most part, avoiding the mainstream media’s liberal biases while assiduously gathering and sharing information from more honest and reliable sources.

Come on folks, let’s get real here. We are considering these candidates for service as trustees of a trust--a very sacred and valuable trust. These men and women will be holding the fate of our entire nation in their hands. The future welfare and happiness of our children and grandchildren will depend largely upon the kinds of decisions they make in our behalf.

Think about it. How much weight can you put into a boat before it sinks? And similarly, how much debt load can a nation, even a great nation, bear before it goes under? We have to start getting practical and serious about our future. We’re in grave danger, people!

In times like these, more than ever, we need honest, capable and trustworthy men and women in public office. This is no time to be reelecting misguided and corrupt politicians like Harry Reid who pose as champions of the people while recklessly spending every available dollar in the U.S. Treasury, whether it be a tax dollar or a borrowed one, to fund their twisted and cockeyed vision of America.

Let’s be candid. Harry Reid is ill-equipped both mentally and morally to be a U.S. Senator, regardless of what he may say about himself or what his supporters in the liberal media may say about him. He has clearly demonstrated that he is a staunch opponent of limited government and a very strong supporter of big government. He has clearly demonstrated that he believes in taking power away from the many and consolidating it in the hands of a select few. He has clearly demonstrated that he is in favor of replacing people rule with elitist rule, elitist rule being a government administered by people like Harry Reid who believe hard-working American taxpayers are too stupid to know what’s best for them.

There is, and I know you can all smell it, a putrid stench emanating from our nation’s capital. Please join with me in removing the source of that stench, Harry Reid and other odious officials like him, from public office. It is not this generation’s calling to establish a great nation, but it is this generation’s calling to save a great nation from destruction.

If you are not already one, become a true American patriot!

“Government is a trust, and the officers of government are trustees. And both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people.” --Henry Clay

A Dark and Tragic Tale of Despair

2009-08-09T05:40:00.000-07:00

Sundays are decep-tively quiet in the town where I live. In the morning men cringingly nurse their throbbing hangovers with generous doses of tomato juice and Tabasco sauce, and then hurry off to church with their hastily groomed families in tow, usually arriving a little late. When church has run its course, they return to their homes tired and out of sorts, and take a nap, if circumstances prevented them from catching one during the sermon. Later, if there is a sporting event on, they immerse themselves deeply into that so they may engage vicariously in a contrived and distant thrill while they swill beer and devour anything loaded with empty calories and salt. In the evening, when it starts to settle in that tomorrow is a workday, they grow moody and restive. Another feeding frenzy begins. Frequent trips are made to the refrigerator and cupboards in search of snacks of questionable nutritional value. As the evening wears on, unflattering words are sporadically and off-handedly fired off with no particular victim in mind, and copious quantities of Alka-Seltzer are gulped down. Finally, in a last ditch attempt to stave off the inevitable, a frantic and futile effort is made to find something on TV that is the entertainment counterpart of what they’ve been eating all day. Around 10:30 p.m. defeat is begrudgingly declared. Teeth are brushed, spouses and children are kissed goodnight and the day ends, much as it began, with a creeping and haunting fear that this is as good as it may ever get.

An Opportunity Of A Lifetime

2009-08-03T08:23:00.000-07:00

Even a casual study of the writ-ings of those who framed our govern-ment persuades one to believe that the Founders, without question, viewed the people as the ultimate and most reliable restraint upon it. It was their hope that the American people would appreciate and cherish their rare form of government enough to nurture it, watch over it and, most of all, to protect it from the corrosive affects of mischievous and self-serving office holders who for one reason or another might decide to ignore and circumvent the Constitution--the sacred agreement that binds us together as a nation, and which our elected officials are sworn to uphold.

But alas, the Founders’ hopes were not fully realized. It turns out that their confidence in us was largely misplaced. Decades ago, Americans began forsaking their birthright and going off this way and that way in search of the “good life.” We have had neither the time nor the inclination to look after our government. Indeed, many of us don’t even know how it is supposed to work or what is so extraordinary about it. We all have been too deeply engaged in the highly addictive activity of acquiring things, things we thought we needed to have in order to be happy.

But the sad irony of it is, we may soon lose all those things we’ve accumulated through hard work and easy credit, and become downright unhappy. For while our eyes were directed elsewhere, our once limited government expanded itself well beyond its intended boundaries. And now the unwieldy monster wants to control everything and everybody in its sight. We allowed the camel to get its nose under the tent and now it’s trying to do what the Founders feared--push us out.

So is it too late to do anything about it? Perhaps. But personally I don’t think we should go down without a fight. We are, after all, the sons and daughters of patriots. We may have temporarily forgotten that, but we are blood-kin to daring men and women, bold risk takers who came to this country with little or nothing and created the best damn nation in the history of the world. All we have to do is get that noble blood pumping in our veins again.

Let’s face it, most of us know deep in our hearts that what our government is doing in the name of social and economic “reform” is wrong. Dead wrong! The government’s policies, whether calculated to do so or not, are backing all of us into a corner. Our government, let me repeat that, our government is gradually and methodically enslaving us. There’s no other way of putting it.

Daniel Webster once wrote: “It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters.”

Dear friends, that is precisely where we’re at. We have in the highest levels of our government men and woman who are promising, in effect, to be good masters. They say they want us to have affordable health care, better schools, cleaner air and safer cities. But there’s just one catch, they want to take away our liberties in exchange for those things, things they won’t even be able to deliver.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m not going to be able to accept their terms. So, like a prodigal son, I’m going to return to my civic responsibilities. I’m going to begin taking less interest in my stuff and a lot more interest in my government, the government that was created and bequeathed to me at great cost by my forefathers. And I’m going to fight tyranny, just as they did, with every legitimate means and tool at my disposal.

And I invite any who may read this to join with me in what is certain to be an exciting and glorious adventure, an opportunity of a lifetime.

“Our union is now complete; our constitution composed, established, and approved. You are now the guardians of your own liberties. --Samuel Adams

Life's Journey

2009-07-27T10:34:00.000-07:00

It has been said that life is a jour-ney. But in most cases when we set off on a journey, it is presumed that we have select-ed a destina-tion and plotted a course. Yet man’s fundamental and most critical journey, life’s journey, is often left to luck and happenstance.

All of us, young and old alike, are at some point along a path. The end of that path may be near or far; but whatever the case may be, we need to determine whether our present location is where we truly want to be. And if it isn’t, we need to change course.

At birth each of us was given an allotment of time, energy and natural talent. Our success and happiness in life rests largely upon how we use those finite and precious resources.

Benjamin Franklin once said: “Doest thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that’s the stuff life is made of.”

Most people my age have some regrets, regrets that for the most part are the result of poor choices and an unwise use of time.

If you’re young and single, I have some advice for you. Don’t get old and don’t get married.

But if that advice doesn’t suit you, I will offer this alternative: Prepare yourself--emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually--so that you may have some hope of dealing successfully with life’s inevitable challenges. And one other thing, choose a mate who has the same destination in mind you have and who fully understands and appreciates the amount of mutual effort it will take to get there.

If you do, you’ll be reasonably happy. If you don’t, I can assure you you’ll live to have some regrets.

Another Look At Global Warming

2009-07-18T07:39:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the globe is, as Al Gore insists, warming; but to what degree man is respon-sible for it, and to what extent he can reverse it, is largely unknown.

What is known, however, is that most of the world's politicians are greedy and power-hungry fools. So you can be certain of one thing--they wouldn’t be leaping on the global-warming bandwagon if they didn’t expect to reap some pretty substantial dividends.

And who will be paying those dividends? Who do you think?

The wealth and power that currently resides in our hands gradually, or perhaps speedily, will be shifted over to them, for you can be assured that the politicians will see to it that the job of keeping the world from overheating will be big, expensive and quite possibly endless.

Furthermore, as the global-warming locomotive gathers momentum, expect to see individual freedoms greatly curtailed and government power vastly expanded. In due time, don’t be surprised if you begin hearing more and more talk of the need to establish a global government. (Well you didn’t think an ugly bogeyman like global warming could be subdued by anything less than a global government, did you?)

What Americans have to get through their heads--and quickly--is that the global-warming mania is simply an excuse to steal power away from the people and transfer it to government officials around the world. It’s not about controlling climate, at all. Even selfish and power-grabbing politicians, dumb as they are, know that’s impossible.

Some of you may be asking yourselves, why are scientists on board? Well, a great many aren’t. But those who are see gobs of grant money and possibly a Nobel prize coming their way. Remember, even scientists have egos. They hunger for recognition, just like the rest of us.

But know this, if we allow the world’s politicians to push this scam through, we’re going to find out the hard way that going “green” doesn’t lead to utopia. Instead, it will open the door to the worst and most pervasive tyranny imaginable.

A great American patriot, Patrick Henry, once proclaimed: “Give me liberty or give me death!” And you know, he had a point there. What good is life, after all, if you don’t have the freedom to live it as you wish? Are we going to permit ourselves to be pushed, frightened and stampeded into bondage in order to escape the largely unknown consequences of global warming?

To abandon the best system of government in the world, with its guaranteed rights and freedoms, to pursue a dubious undertaking like climate control is both absurd and dangerous.

Don’t buy into it!

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
--H.L. Mencken

A Competitive and Dangerous Place

2009-07-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

Even when the world is experi-encing a period of relative peace, there is restless-ness, tension and discontent among the nations. Countries are jockeying unceasingly to acquire more favorable conditions for themselves. At this very moment, nations that consider themselves disadvantaged, and most do, are doggedly looking for ways and means of getting ahead.

Historically, the primary reason similarly minded people have banded together is to enhance their chances of survival, survival being something that must be attended to constantly. Therefore, there never is a time when a nation can safely set aside the basic and demanding task of surviving.

But it is not enough that a nation possesses a well trained and well equipped military. Each individual within a nation, whatever his or her vocation or station in life, must be steadfastly using all their natural gifts and acquired skills to the fullest extent possible, because that is what the leaders of competitor nations are urging their citizens to do.

Make no mistake about it. If we as a people fail to fully utilize all our talents and resources, a nation that is fully exploiting all of theirs eventually will overtake us.

And why will they overtake us? Because we forgot that the world is inherently a highly competitive and dangerous place, and we foolishly permitted ourselves to become preoccupied and distracted with things that don’t matter.

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

2009-07-04T04:34:00.000-07:00

Today marks the two-hundred and thirty-third anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since those fifty-six brave signers pledged to one another their lives, fortunes and sacred honor.

The Declaration of Independence is, among other things, a proclamation of man’s inherent rights, rights that predate government, rights that our Creator endowed us with and wants us to keep.

Thomas Jefferson called these rights “unalienable rights” because they are an elemental and integral part of man. When he is arbitrarily deprived of them, he is no longer complete, and lacks the capacity to pursue his dreams and aspirations. Therefore, he becomes something less than a man.

A good government, Thomas Jefferson believed, should not only acknowledge these special rights but it should “secure” them as well. To him, that was the prime purpose of government.

The signers of the Declaration of Independence were confident men. They did not lack courage or initiative. They wanted to control their own destinies, but they knew that in order to realistically do that they would need full possession of all their unalienable rights. And that holds true to this day.

Admittedly, not everyone who is granted life and liberty will find true happiness. It may still elude many of us. But without life and liberty, real happiness is virtually unattainable.

The signers knew this, and we need to know it too.

Silver And Gold Have I None

2009-06-29T07:03:00.000-07:00

In a world obsessed with wealth, sometimes it is bene-ficial to remind ourselves that there are things more precious than money.

The third chapter of Acts begins with a beautiful and touching story. It is about a “certain man lame from his mother’s womb” who is brought daily to the temple gate to beg for alms.

One day two special men, disciples and apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, come his way. He asks them for money, but to his great surprise he receives something far more valuable than what he was hoping for.

Quoting now: “And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed to them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by his right hand, and lifted him up; and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.”

Through an extraordinary miracle a man born with a serious disability was made whole. But I ask you: Is it any less of a miracle to be born whole?

If you currently are penniless--but otherwise are physically and mentally sound--stand up, walk and praise God! You are sufficiently equipped to improve your circumstances in life.

Leaves Do Not Shed Their Roots

2009-06-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

Perhaps we should review some elemental aspects of our constitutional system of government, a system that served us well until about 70 years ago when misguided, and in some cases devious, politicians began recklessly trying to “improve” upon it.

Above all else, we must understand that the Constitution is not a creature of the federal government as some would have us believe. Rather, the federal government is a creature of the Constitution. The Constitution came first, and then the government. The government was born of the Constitution, and takes from it its unique shape and its just powers.

Ergo, no branch of the federal government, or any office growing out of it, is greater than the Constitution.

Just as the branches and leaves of a tree depend upon the roots for their stability and support, so too do the branches and offices of the federal government depend upon the Constitution for their steadiness and vitality--not to mention their authority and legitimacy.

Tree branches and leaves, however, differ from the branches of government and their respective officials in one important respect--branches and leaves understand instinctively that the continued health and vigor of a living organism is dependant upon the harmonious interaction of the component parts. In other words, branches and leaves know their place and confine themselves to their proper and appointed role in the system.

Regrettably, many public officers do not share this same keen sense of humility and teamwork. They erroneously believe that the life and splendor of our political system resides in them, not in the Constitution, and are continually attempting to disassociate themselves from it. In so doing, they foolishly jeopardizes themselves as well as the greater organism of which they are but a component part.

Conclusion: If more of our current politicians possessed the simple integrity of a leaf, America and Americans would not be facing many of the painful uncertainties and needless upheavals that now plague them.

The Constitution is the political contract Americans have agreed to live by. When grasping and unscrupulous politicians will not adhere to its terms, they carelessly undermine and corrupt the established social order, thereby endangering all of us.

In the natural world, leaves do not shed their roots. Instead, they obediently and respectfully carry out their ordained part in a beautiful and elegant system.

It’s high time those in the political world took a lesson from nature.

D-Day

2009-06-06T10:47:00.000-07:00

People tend to forget the sacrifices others have made in their behalf.

Sixty-five years ago the fate of the world hung in the balance as dictators and tyrants engaged in a vicious and relentless struggle to dominate the globe. On the morning of June 6, 1944, soldiers of the Allied Expeditionary Force, including men from every corner of the United States, set out to break their iron grip and to free the oppressed peoples of Europe.

Four years earlier, in June of 1940, Winston Churchill uttered these stirring words to his fellow countrymen: “Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.”

History records that England did, against great odds, stand up to Hitler in those early, dark days of the war. As a result of its determined effort, precious time was bought. The United States ultimately entered the conflict and the tide began slowly to turn. By mid-1944 everything was in place to launch the final assault on fortress Europe.

Operation Overlord, or what we now call simply the D-Day landings, was the largest single-day invasion in history. As predicted by General Eisenhower, the enemy fought back savagely. Yet by day’s end, and despite a loss of over 9,000 killed or wounded, more than 100,000 men were ashore and beginning the historic march across Europe that ultimately brought Hitler and his evil regime to an ignominious end.

On this sixth day of June, 2009, let us take a moment to remember and honor those, living and dead, who took part in that titanic and fateful struggle to free the world of tyranny. They were not supermen. They were our fathers and grandfathers, uncles and cousins, friends and neighbors. They knew fear as few have, nevertheless they fought courageously.

May we take heart from their noble example and resolve to vigorously expose and resist the would-be oppressors of today, for truly the war with evil never ends.

Fragile Ecosystems

2009-06-03T05:19:00.000-07:00

Unhealthy pollutants come in a variety of deadly forms. For in-stance, network news organizations daily befoul our channels of commu-nication with distortions and falsehoods that are endangering fragile social, political and economic ecosystems.

This insidious work is being carried out by sly spin doctors posing as journalists who inten-tionally introduce carefully crafted and highly damaging myths into our nation’s information pipeline. These dangerous fallacies then flow into homes all across America where they infect the minds of unsuspecting consumers.

Why is this such a grave problem? A society’s future is seriously jeopardized when citizens are misinformed. Consider, for example, what happened to the German people and Germany in the period just prior to and during World War II. More often than not, a misled people soon find themselves coping with devastating consequences.

So if you would like to take part in cleaning up a sorely neglected but critical part of our nation’s environment, I would like to recommend that each of you email our nation’s top news anchors and tell them to please stop poisoning our vital streams of information.

We have been told repeatedly by liberal environmentalists that preserving delicate and complex ecosystems is extremely important.

So if you haven’t received your memo from our nation’s Environmentalist-in-Chief, Al Gore, please consider this your official notification and get moving.

[T]he truth is the greatest enemy of the State.
--Joseph Goebbels

Broad is the Way

2009-05-25T06:41:00.000-07:00

Let us return to James Madison and his astute observa-tions regarding men and angels. (See original James Madison post dated March 28, 2009)

There is an old saying that fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Put another way: The foolish don’t stop to consider fully the risks and ramifications involved when plunging into the unknown. Therefore, they often find themselves in dire predicaments, with one following another, and the next worse than the previous one.

Recent steps taken by our national leaders have many concerned about our future stability as a nation. Bold and broad changes were rushed into effect with little or no thought given to long-term consequences. Thoughtful Americans are left wondering what manner of pernicious seeds are being cast as we race further into this highly dubious business of “saving our economy.”

The Bible teaches us that there is but one narrow path to life but that the road to destruction is broad and easy to find. Any fool may discover it and remain upon it with little difficulty.

It would appear that our new President and many members of Congress, in their overzealous desire to bring about “change,” have found that latter road and believe they are onto something truly brilliant, amazing and novel.

Our Constitution was written to confine our government and its office holders within certain narrow limits. Yet our current leaders are daily rushing well beyond those limits like frenzied fools.

Conclusion: Further evidence that what James Madison said was true: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” And what’s more, no written constitution would have been necessary to “oblige it to control itself.”

If you want to see how little resemblance there really is between men and angels, keep permitting Chief Executives, members of Congress and Supreme Court Justices to trample our Constitution out of existence.

Ask Not...

2009-05-17T20:17:00.000-07:00

In America we have the uncommon privilege of openly offering our opinions and beliefs to our political leaders. And they, by the same token, may offer theirs to us

For example, in President Kennedy’s inaugural address he advised the American people: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Apparently he believed, even then, that Americans were growing a little too accustomed to leaning on their government for support.

Keeping a country healthy--socially, spiritually, politically and economically--requires a sincere effort on the part of citizens and government alike. There are things a good government ought to be doing for its citizens and things good citizens ought to be doing for their government. And those duties and responsibilities we owe to each other must be maintained in a perpetual state of harmony and balance if we are to be a happy, successful and vibrant nation.

So what are some of the things goods citizens should be doing for their country?

First and foremost, Americans ought to be conscientious about voting. It is, after all, a special right not granted to everyone in the world. Moreover, Americans should know why their government was framed the way it was and why its unique attributes provide to us the blessings and benefits they do. Furthermore, every American should be well versed on how those who formulated and established our government intended it to work.

I realize our schools are no longer teaching these things, so we may need to acquire that knowledge on our own. But the fact is, you cannot fully appreciate the country you live in if you are not thoroughly acquainted with its distinct character as well as the people who poured their hearts and treasure into it to make it distinct. Some of those people may have been your own ancestors.

Additionally, every citizen should be obeying the laws of the land and living a useful, productive life. By doing what we know is right and by bearing our own load rather than passing it over to someone else, we are making ourselves, our community and our nation stronger. Nations are made great not through sweeping and expensive government programs but through the honest and steady efforts of the common man and woman. A nation made up primarily of deadbeats and losers simply cannot prosper or endure.

Parents have a special responsibility to their country. They need to be providing a safe, healthy and loving environment for their children to grow up in. In other words, if you are going to have a child, help it get off to a good start in life, a start that will assist him or her in becoming a fully functioning and productive member of our society. Remember that giving a child a part of yourself is more important than giving him or her the latest electronic gadget. And by all means, don’t in any way expect the government to raise your child for you. The government is a very poor substitute for a nurturing mother and father, despite what Hillary Clinton thinks.

Now let’s turn our attention to the government.

What the government essentially needs to be doing is leaving us alone. It’s incessant and prejudicial meddling is destroying the moral fabric of our society. A good government does not care for its citizens like an overbearing, bloated nanny. What our government really should be doing, but is neglecting badly, is guaranteeing to its citizens their God-given and Constitutional rights. If it were doing that, it would be providing us with what we need most.

Unfortunately, at this time, our government is not doing that. Instead, many of our elected representatives are forsaking their oaths of office and deserting the Constitution. A good many of our leaders in Washington have completely lost touch with reality and are behaving like juveniles on spring break. They are not just recklessly spending the tax dollars provided by the current generation of American workers, they are already dipping deeply into the future earnings of our grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

This kind of irresponsible behavior can’t be attributed to stupidity alone. Rather, it would appear that some among us, probably the obscenely rich, are orchestrating the downfall of our present system of government so that it may be replaced by a ruling elite made up of selfish, arrogant people who will manage our country’s shrinking natural resources for the benefit of a very few.

Before it is too late and while we are still permitted to do so, we must unite and begin utilizing our right to speak up. We must not hesitate to express our profoundest political beliefs to our elected representatives in Washington--the President, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and so forth. They work for us and are bound by a contract called the Constitution.

Paraphrasing President Kennedy we might advise our wayward leaders in this way: “Ask not how you can continue plundering your way to absolute power, ask instead how you can transform yourselves into more humble and faithful servants to the American people.”

The Supreme Law of the Land

2009-05-09T06:05:00.000-07:00

In the aftermath of the recent mortgage and credit debacles that were caused largely by the federal government, our new President has wasted no time assuming unprecedented and sweeping powers. For example, the federal government now apparently owns, ostensibly on behalf of the American taxpayer, what amounts to a controlling interest in several major corporations, or at least enough interest in those companies that the President believes he can bypass the share holders and terminate a top executive whenever he feels like it.

But there are some fundamental questions we need to be asking ourselves. For instances, from where does the President draw this extraordinary authority and is he acting legally? The fact is, our President and some members of Congress are steadily and systematically arrogating to themselves powers commonly held by a totalitarian regime. In other words, they are greatly exceeding their legal authority. In actuality they are exercising nothing more nor less than the illegal power wielded by a common thief.

In America the Constitution is the supreme law of the land. Let me repeat that. In America the Constitution is the supreme LAW of the land. Therefore, those who deliberately violate it by assuming powers that are not theirs, whether they be the President or members of Congress, are engaging in willful criminal behavior. Put plainly, they are law breakers; outlaws, if you will.

We are governed by laws in this country, laws enacted by our duly elected representatives. Until those laws are changed or repealed, we are all expected to abide by them. That is how we maintain order in our society. That is how we keep ourselves from degenerating into a rabble. We all just can’t go out and break laws simply because they seem burdensome to us. But apparently that’s how the President views the limitations placed upon him by the Constitution.

I can’t speak for the rest of you, but I believe the Constitution should be meticulously preserved and strictly upheld by everyone, and most certainly by all those who have sworn before God to uphold it. And this much I know for sure. If we continue trading it off for a mess of pottage and then realize we’ve made a mistake, we’ll pay hell getting it back.

Publisher’s note: For our readers’ edification we include the following…

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

--The Presidential oath of office as established by the U.S. Constitution.

A Distant Planet

2009-05-02T18:46:00.000-07:00

We live in a deep, dark corner of space on a jewel-like orb warmed and lit by a blazing star. So far as we know, we have no immediate neighbors. Yet despite our apparent isolation, we have on this rich whirling sphere everything we need to sustain ourselves.

We call our secluded home among the twinkling stars earth. It is the only home the human family, our family, has ever known. All our ancestors have lived and died here. All our history, good and bad, has been played out here.

We are composed of many nationalities or sub-families--brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, people who long ago splintered off and went their separate ways.

We have exhibited as a family, and continue to exhibit, many destructive and dysfunctional tendencies. We are a determined group of home wreckers. On many, many occasions, even within the last century, we have gone after one another hammer and tong, killing mercilessly and laying waste to much of what we have built.

We are left to wonder why a family blessed with so much abundance and with such a lovely home would be so angry and discontented.

Perhaps it is time we reminded ourselves that God is our Father, that He created the earth, and that He has promised it to the meek.

Be Of Good Cheer

2009-04-19T18:11:00.000-07:00

We are without a doubt in unsteady and turb-ulent times. Some of our highest leaders in government have forsaken the Constitu-tion and are deter-minedly leading us off the sure and certain course established for us so many years ago by our brave and clear-thinking forebears.

Many of us are hopeful that we can rally our fellow citizens and by doing so avert a calamity. We have arrived at a desperate hour in the history of our nation, an hour not unlike that faced by President Lincoln and our ancestors during the Civil War. We, too, are now engaged in a great conflict, testing whether a nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal can long endure.

We must not assume that our cause is hopeless. Many things are in our favor. For one, we are fighting for what is right. Moreover, we are not alone. A great many Americans ardently believe as we do. And most important of all, we have our faith in God to sustain us.

Jesus said: “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

We are in these treacherous times because dishonorable men currently rule the earth, believing mistakenly that it is theirs. One day, however, this grievous misconception will be cleared up.

In the mean time let us heed the words of Paul: “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; we are persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down but not destroyed.”

On July 4, 1776, Americans assumed among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitled them. On that day we asserted that we were endowed by our Creator, not by a government, with certain unalienable rights.

Until our rightful King comes to reign over us, let us hold fast to those sacred God-given rights and relinquish them to no man.

Surely the gifts of God are more precious than the empty and capricious promises held out to us by our misdirected government.

“The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.”
--Thomas Jefferson

A Deeply Committed Few

2009-04-13T05:47:00.000-07:00

A society cannot be improved by depriving its members of the opportunity to learn from their mistakes, harsh though those realities may be.

When a government seeks to mitigate and temper conse-quences that are the natural result of indolence, stupidity, incompetence and greed, they are doing their citizens a grave disservice, especially when resource-rich developing nations are pursuing a more prudent and practical course, and would be happy to see us go under.

It should be apparent to anyone with even a modicum of sense that a nation composed of citizens and corporations that are incapable of responsibly managing their affairs cannot possibly compete with countries whose citizens and business enterprises can.

Our government currently is pursuing social and economic policies that are rapidly reducing Americans to helpless children, children who soon will have no other recourse but to lean on their near-bankrupt government for support. And how long do you suppose we can stand up to our competitors in the world under circumstances like that?

It’s both a shame and a crime that a nation that once was the envy of the entire world, and rightly so, has sunk to such extreme levels of moral degeneration.

But this is no time to be feeling sorry for ourselves or to be looking to our highest political and business leaders to do the right thing. We well know where they stand.

The hard fact is that if we as individuals do not return, and return quickly, to the principles upon which this great nation was founded, and whole-heartedly embrace our responsibilities and defend our God-given rights, the next gust of ill-wind that sweeps across this country may be the one that topples us over. And there will be another ill-wind. Any truly mature person realizes that ups and downs are inevitable and must be prudently planned for.

Remember, it doesn’t always take superior numbers to win a battle. Sometimes a deeply committed few can carry the day.

Please start taking an active and sincere interest in your country. As Americans we have a proud and noble heritage, and if we will work diligently together to preserve it, we can have a bright and prosperous future as well.

So seize the initiative before it’s too late! Don’t leave your fate in the hands of self-serving and unscrupulous politicians. At the next election, let’s fire as many of the hopeless dolts as we can!

“The foundation stone of national life is and must ever be the high individual character of the individual citizen.”
--Theodore Roosevelt

Trust Issues

2009-04-06T17:05:00.000-07:00

Among the truly absurd observations made by Hillary Clinton over the years is this gem: “It takes a village to raise a child.”

Although no one would dispute the fact that it is helpful to live in a village where people care about one another’s children, the influences contributed by a village are obviously inferior and secondary to the influences contributed by a loving family.

Of course, Hillary Clinton is hinting that she wants the federal government to begin playing a greater role in raising your children, so she would like you to believe it’s a good idea to get the “village” involved. What she is saying in effect is this: “Why return to basics when we can create another intrusive and expensive government program?

Somewhere God got the idea that a mother and father were just the right combination for rearing children. But apparently Hillary Clinton disagrees. It wasn’t bad enough, I guess, that she couldn’t see eye to eye with the Founders. Now she feels the need to take it one step further.

When we were born, if we were lucky, we were born into a good family, a group of people who worked together and loved each other. That is how we initially survived as human beings. A family took care of us.

Those initial years in a loving, protective family were our introduction to what it means to be a member of a group. That is where we learned to get along with others and do our fair share of the work.

Granted, in the last few decades a number of families have fallen into a state of disrepair, but is that sufficient reason for us to give up on the family organization and replace it with something else, some alien product of the federal government?

Most of us recognize that the family is the core of civilization. It is the primary element in any society. Only a misguided liberal like Hillary Clinton would want to tamper with something so fundamental.

What egos these liberals have! They want to control everything--the economy, the weather and even the family. And they haven’t given us the slightest reason to believe they can handle any of these jobs. They have made a mess of everything they’ve touched. Yet they cry out for more power.

Their problem seems to be that they don’t trust anyone. Not even God!

Editor's note: Yes, we realize Hillary Clinton is now Secretary of State, but she is still a snake in the grass and a liberal.

If Men Were Angels

2009-03-28T16:03:00.000-07:00

Please open your Federalist Papers to #51, paragraph 4.

I take for my text today the words of James Madison: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”

Madison here is referring to man’s moral limitations, which he understands must be offset in some manner through the creation of a uniquely designed system of government.

“In framing a government,” he notes, “which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”

Madison goes on to say that “dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.”

So was James Madison simply delusional and paranoid? Did he and his colleagues who supported and promoted the Constitution totally misunderstand and misread human nature? Were they overreacting? Or were their observations insightful and correct?

Judging from our current predicament: a federal government wholly out of control, with ambitious men and women scrambling like fiends to expand their power, one would have to conclude that James Madison was neither delusional nor paranoid. And he and his colleagues certainly were not overreacting.

Madison published this thoughtful treatise on checks and balances in 1788. We are now in the year 2009, and the nation is in dire straits. Neither the people nor the auxiliary precautions spoken of by Madison have succeeded in restraining the federal government. It continues to grow with alarming rapidity and races downward uninhibited.

We now stand at the very place our Founding Fathers hoped we would never see. Many who hold the highest political offices in the land are feverishly dismantling what our ancestors meticulously built and passed on to us. These men and women are clever and polished hypocrites. They draw near to us with their lips but their hearts are far from us. They are blind leaders of the blind, and they are leading us all into a ditch.

If you are an American, a true American, it is time to open your eyes to what is going on around you; indeed, it is well past that time. We can no longer afford to be distracted and divided. We must cease being democrats and republicans and become patriots, patriots who will stand firmly together against the advancing tyranny that threatens us on every side.

The Bible tells us that a “hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered.”

If we want to be delivered from the grasp of these diabolical schemers, we had better start acquiring some political knowledge fast and share it with our neighbors.

James Madison’s days have past. But the world always has need of men and women who cherish freedom. It is now our turn, and good fortune, to resist tyrants and proclaim liberty.

My New Career

2009-03-17T19:36:00.000-07:00

On March 24th of last year I started this blog. At the time, I had no plans for making it political; indeed, I had no plans at all. I only wanted an excuse to write.

But then we were hit by the mortgage crisis and the presidential campaign, and during those dark and stormy days, I began putting my political two cents in. Soon I upped the ante to a nickel and then a quarter. And before I knew it, I was investing heavily and had become a genuine political commentator.

Okay, maybe not.

In any case, I’m now asking myself: If I were to continue with my newly discovered career, how much impact would I have? Of course there’s no way of telling. But we’re definitely at a critical intersection in this country and only a few people are giving any thought to keeping liberty alive while we’re reviving the economy. Our president and his cohorts in Congress are all in a lather over “change” and “stimulus packages.” In their headlong and madcap rush to get the tentacles of government firmly wrapped around every part of our nation’s economy, liberty has been thoughtlessly shoved aside.

So with that said, I think I might just go on preaching the merits of liberty for a while. Someone has to do it, after all. And there seems to be darn little interest in the job. The field’s wide open.

Remember, dear friends, it is not the Constitution or our system of government that has failed us. It is the current crop of immoral and unscrupulous political leaders who have let us down. They are rapidly transforming our democratic government into a despotic government. They are deliberately and methodically turning upside down the truly remarkable and ingenious system of government our forebears created for us.

Today, more than ever before, good, hardworking Americans, individuals with worthy dreams and goals of their own, are being called upon to sweat and sacrifice in order to support an intrusive, mismanaged and bloated federal government. Our current political leaders seem to have forgotten that our government was created by the people to serve the people.
We--we the people--are the masters of government, not the other way around.

Bear in mind that when the government becomes heavily invested and involved in our nation’s major banks, insurance companies and auto giants, it is acquiring and consolidating POWER, power that was not granted to the federal government by the Constitution. And POWER, especially unlimited power in a few hands, is a dangerous and ugly thing. Make no mistake about it.

Surely we can all agree that sacrificing liberty to save the economy is a poor bargain. We need to start getting more people into government who understand that it isn’t necessary to dismantle and destroy what is best about our country in order to generate so-called prosperity and security.

Every so often a generation of Americans has the privilege of fighting for what is right. Let’s not back away from this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Let’s boldly embrace it.

Please lend your full support to those in Congress who are on the side of liberty. And at the same time begin dumping those who are bent upon making themselves autocrats and kings--like Harry Reid, for example.

We once had a government that allowed its citizens to possess and enjoy the fruits of their labor. We now have one that is determined to tax and regulate its citizens into bondage.

We were taught as children that as human beings we have an inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We must never let our government get the idea that those rights are for sale.

A Rube Goldberg Contraption

2009-02-27T08:57:00.000-08:00

Some of you may not remember Rube Goldberg. Rube Goldberg was a cartoonist who drew fantastically complex and impractical machines for performing simple tasks. His machines incorporated pulleys, strings, levers, hammers, candles--you name it--to do a variety of jobs that any ordinary man or woman could handle quite effortlessly without the aid of Mr. Goldberg’s contrivance.

I’m sure most of you already know where I’m going with this, but after looking over some of his more outrageous drawings, I’m reminded of the way our government, or perhaps I should say the machinery that carries out its work, has developed over the years.

Our Founding Fathers created a small, simple, well balanced system of government. It possessed only those parts necessary to perform its limited functions. Nevertheless, it was believed by its designers and builders, all wise and capable men, to be more than sufficient to govern a nation of industrious, practical and well behaved citizens.

Over time, however, the original design seemed, to a new generation of government leaders, inadequate to meet the escalating needs of the citizenry. They decided, therefore, to set things right. Believing themselves to be superior to the Founders, they began making poorly conceived and questionable modifications to a near perfect system. More often than not these changes were hastily fashioned with no thought given to size, simplicity or balance. And certainly not to the Constitution.

Today, as a result of their imprudent actions, our government has developed into a gargantuan and hopelessly disordered Rube Goldberg contraption. It has grown so complex and unwieldy, in fact, that no one truly understands it. Yet year after year, more and more components are hurriedly slapped together and tacked onto it to meet perceived needs and emergencies. Unfortunately, these carelessly added components quite often disturb a very delicate and fundamental social and economic harmony that in turn sets off another round of pressing emergencies, each one needing the immediate attention of the government. Or so we’re told by the government.

But there is one glimmering ray of light in the midst of the enveloping gloom. As the government continues to expand out of control, the number of responsible citizens who rightfully are concerned about this growing problem also expands. These wide-awake, fully functional and pragmatic individuals are asking themselves whether this burdensome heap of ill-designed parts, parts that now overlay and suppress the original system, is truly helpful. They understand, after all, that the original configuration did work. In fact, it worked very well for a great many years. And it worked because the people who inhabited America in former times, our hardy forebears, were largely self-sufficient, and didn’t require anything bigger, more complex or intrusive than what that initial design offered.

I don’t know about you, but this gives me an intriguing idea. Perhaps instead of tackling the almost hopeless job of reforming the government, we ought to start reforming ourselves. When the government sees that we’re no longer willing to go on mindlessly exchanging genuine freedom for false security, they’ll have to start downsizing. And then some of those impractical Rube Goldberg parts will be lopped off, one by one, and we’ll get our government back into a condition that more closely resembles what our Founders initially gave us--which was really quite extraordinary and remarkable.

Rube Goldberg’s goal as a cartoonist was to amuse and entertain, but there is nothing amusing or entertaining about an expensive, inefficient and dangerously oversized government.

Let’s stop kidding ourselves. We will never regain the small, manageable and cost-effective government our ancestors had unless we’re willing to fully assume the risks and responsibilities they did. And what’s worse, we won’t be enjoying the priceless freedoms they enjoyed either.

That’s all there is to it.

Nevada's Freedom Fighters

2009-02-19T19:44:00.000-08:00

As much as I have come to enjoy it, I must admit that only so much can be accomplished by exposing the mis-deeds and mischief spawned by inept, self-serving and double-crossing politicians. And besides, why dwell perpetually upon the negative? I think it’s high time we started drawing attention to those in Washington who are sincerely trying to preserve and protect our way of life--the American way of life, a way of life that has drawn millions of hopeful immigrants to this great land of opportunity.

Fortunately, we in Nevada do not have to look far to find solid men of character, men who faithfully and truly serve our state and nation. In our congressional delegation, for example, we have two extremely capable and committed public servants: Senator John Ensign and Congressman Dean Heller. Their voting records clearly demonstrate that they fully understand and appreciate the fundamental principles and values upon which this great nation was founded. And furthermore, they have never given us any reason to suspect that their faith in these principles is weakening.

In a country where more and more people seem to be clamoring for a bigger government, believing erroneously that a bigger government will be better able to care for them, it is easy to see why so many elected officials simply give in to it. After all, it is the least demanding way for men and woman who possess none of the qualities of true greatness to acquire prestige, popularity and power. And what’s more, they can get themselves elected and re-elected time and time again by pretending to be generous and compassionate on our money.

How refreshing and commendable it is, then, to see members of congress resisting that easy road. How commendable it is to see members of congress who will not allow themselves to be seduced away from cherished and proven principles simply because more alluring ones are coming into vogue. How commendable it is to see political leaders who have enough backbone to express an unpopular truth, even though expressing that truth might spell defeat at the next election.

True greatness reveals itself whenever someone firmly stands up for what is right no matter how many influential and fashionable people may oppose it.

Today High Desert Digest salutes John Ensign and Dean Heller and calls upon each of you to sustain them in their unflagging efforts to pursue a course that is compatible with our free and limited form of government. Please rally behind these men, and the many other men and women in Washington, who are daily questioning and challenging the highly corrosive political and economic theories that are being imprudently introduced into our country.

At this very moment a desperate struggle for liberty is being waged in, of all places, the hallowed halls of Congress. Please support Nevada’s courageous freedom fighters in Washington: Senator John Ensign and Congressman Dean Heller.

Old Age: A Realistic Analysis

2009-02-11T09:16:00.000-08:00

Let’s take a break from Harry Reid for a moment and turn our attention to another gloomy subject: old age.

Sadly, 100 out of 100 Americans who do not die pre-maturely will eventually suffer from some form of old age. It is a shocking fact, to be sure, but nonethe-less true.

What is particularly unnerving about old age is that despite everything you may do to evade it, it will nevertheless catch up to you. And once it has taken hold, it will torment you and ultimately kill you. Perhaps I’m a voice crying in the wilderness, but I hardly think this is the way old people should be treated in this country.

With so many high-level politicians crawling all over our broken economy like wide-eyed kids at a train wreck, I suppose it would be an inconvenient time to bother them. So what can we as individuals do about this grievous problem of aging?

To be honest, not much; but two options stand out. 1) We can live fast and heedlessly, grabbing all the gusto we can while we can, or 2) We can eat sensibly and exercise daily, hoping to delay its onset and reduce its impact. Unfortunately, whichever choice you make, the results are often surprisingly similar, if not identical. This may be due, in part, to the puzzling role genetics plays in the aging process, which will not be addressed here.

The path one chooses then essentially boils down to a personal preference regarding what one believes will generate the greatest satisfaction while waiting for old age’s final symptom to manifest itself. If you’re inclined toward loose living and pleasure seeking, you will go with number 1. If you believe in stubbornly fighting physical and mental degeneration in all its hideous guises, you will choose number 2.

Whatever your strategy for facing old age may be, there are a few things you might wish to consider as it draws nearer. For example, I am staunchly opposed to dwelling unduly upon the inevitable. However, I also believe it is unwise to keep oneself in a perpetual state of denial. Therefore, try to find some middle ground. But whatever you do, do not vacillate between the two. This will only make you seem neurotic.

If fast living is your preference, bear in mind that it is not a sure-fire approach to dodging old age. You may still have to experience it. You will just be experiencing it earlier and for a shorter duration. And fast living has other disadvantages. For instance, studies show that it is not conducive to forming or maintaining long-term relationships. So expect to be alone anytime you’re not at a bar or night club. And don’t let yourself become too fond of money, because you may not be accumulating very much of it. Which brings us to another important subject--your family. Though your behavior will doubtless alienate them, try to stay as close as possible to your parents and siblings, the people who feel obligated to love you. You will likely have to procure money from them with disturbing regularity.

If , on the other hand, you choose to battle old age, you should not attempt to do so by strictly abstaining from all of life’s little pleasures. For example, you needn’t go without that occasional bowl of ice cream or that double shot of Scotch after work. And on Super Bowl Sunday feel free to over indulge and make yourself a little ill. Rigidity in any form, after all, is detrimental to your health. Furthermore, as an exercise regimen, I feel it is unwise to run everyday and for long distances unless you’re being pursued by a tax or bill collector, in which case it might be advisable. But even then I believe running should be taken up only after consulting with a physician who is a recognized practitioner in both health and financial matters.

In conclusion, I will just add this: Regardless of your choice, make it carefully because you may live to regret it. Which calls to mind the insightful words of Dean Martin, who, in a rare moment of lucidity, faultlessly summed up one of life’s most vexing paradoxes. While swaying unsteadily on the brink of old age, he was heard to say: “If I’d known I was going to live so long, I’d have taken better care of myself.”

CHANGE: A CALL TO NEVADANS

2009-02-02T17:42:00.000-08:00

There’s been a lot of talk lately about change. One of our presiden-tial candi-dates repeated the word so often, in fact, that it became a mind numbing chant that eventually lost its meaning. Nevertheless, it carried him to the presidency.

But don’t get me wrong. I too believe in change.

I believe, for example, that it’s time we began making substantial personnel changes in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. As you know, it’s our duty and prerogative as American citizens to periodically effect such changes. Regrettably, we will not be able to clean up the whole mess single-handedly or overnight. We will have to call upon many others, all across the land, to do their part as well. But if we will look upon it not as a burden but as an opportunity, and pitch in with willing hearts, the job could easily be accomplished in a few short years. And what a gratifying difference it would make in the political scenery.

Many of the pathologically deceptive and inept office holders who now clutter Washington are the very ones whose dereliction and unconscionable performance brought about the recent world-wide financial collapse. Their failure to maintain strict control, through existing regulations, of the nation’s credit and money supply has resulted in dire economic and political consequences for us and our children.

The Bible tells us that whatsoever we sow that also shall we reap. It also tells us that when the wicked rule, the people mourn. We have loaded our nation’s capitol with self-serving hacks. Is it any wonder, then, that things are falling into disarray?

Our political future is becoming increasingly tenuous. The unprincipled narcissists in Washington, whether by clever design or unbridled incompetence, are methodically robbing us of our priceless birthright. Are we going to stand idly by and let them complete their horrific task? We have the noble blood of patriots flowing in our veins. Shall we just hand over to this band of crooks and hustlers what our ancestors paid so dearly to acquire?

Fellow Nevadans: Open your eyes! We’re upholding and abetting a scoundrel in the U.S. Senate, a man who is a bona fide menace to good government and a major impediment to genuine prosperity. He’s our state’s shameful and virulent contribution to the political affliction that is infecting and destroying this country. I call upon you to join a worthy and honorable cause. I call upon you to unite with me in remedying a tragic mistake.

On November 2, 2010, go to the polls and strike a blow for freedom; give a pink slip to one of America’s most calculating politicians and Nevada’s ranking hypocrite--Harry Reid. If you do, another noxious and pestilent organism will be removed from our weakened and diseased political system. And that, my friends, will constitute real change, wholesome and hopeful change.

Change we can believe in.

The integrity and faithfulness of public servants are not apt to be greater than the public demands.
--Grover Cleveland

The Road called "Government Meddling"

2009-01-27T08:40:00.000-08:00

Our new president wants to stimulate the economy. What is puzzling, however, is that this staunch advocate of change wants to pursue a path that is eerily similar to the one taken by his predecessor and archrival. He too believes that the most effective way to stimulate the economy is for the federal government to round up a huge number of dollars, idle dollars that presumably are lying about loose, and expertly and judiciously inject them into various parts of our nation’s ailing economic system.

The plan offers some tantalizing possibilities, to be sure, if you are trying to gradually kill off free enterprise and replace it with some form of socialism. But is an incremental transition to socialism the best way for America to get back on its feet--and stay there? Socialism, you will recall, is an economic theory that advocates government ownership and management of the means of production as well as the distribution of the goods produced.

One of the things, among others, that makes socialism especially problematic as a suitable remedy for the nation’s economic woes is that our government’s record in management is dismal at best. So even if the executives at General Motors can’t manage their company, as they’ve clearly demonstrated they can’t, what earthly reason do we have for believing bumbling federal bureaucrats can oversee it any better?

Remember, these are the people who presently are managing the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Federal Drug Administration, and so forth. These are the people who ardently believe it takes four to five people to do a one-man/woman job. Sure, socialism will doubtless create jobs, but what will it do to production? And more importantly, will it create wealth, honest to goodness wealth?

That is rather doubtful. Only motivated individuals can produce wealth, individuals who can recognize, seize and develop an opportunity. Granted, once enterprising individuals have produced wealth, government may misuse its power and redirect it, but government cannot, of itself, produce it. And by arbitrarily redistributing it, government can and does kill the individual incentive and motivation that were indispensable ingredients in initially creating it.

If government would give back to the people a genuine sense that hard work and prudent living pays off in this country, then the nation’s economy soon would revive. But if government stubbornly continues its present course of robbing the industrious while rewarding the idle and unproductive, then the outlook doesn’t look promising.

And by the way, the course selected by our new president does not constitute change. It’s the same old slippery road we’ve been sliding down for decades. It’s the road called “Government Meddling,” and it’s the road that led us into our present crisis.

Credentials and Qualifications

2009-01-20T09:39:00.000-08:00

Last week a coura-geous and clear thinking airline pilot made a success-ful emer-gency landing in the Hudson River. Fortunately for all on board, the Federal Aviation Administration holds airline pilots to extremely high levels of competency and accountability.

Unfortunately, when it comes to the safety and welfare of our country as a whole, voters do not hold those who direct the federal government, the men and women who occupy our nation’s highest offices, to similarly high standards.

It is ironic that the inept politicians who steer our ship of state, those who carry the fate of millions in their hands, may blunder time and time again, putting us all repeatedly at risk, and yet they are permitted to retain their prestigious and high-profile positions.

Why is it that we require more of those whose actions may endanger 100 people than we do of those whose actions may endanger millions?

In light of the severe financial debacle that recently has engulfed our country, a disaster that is due largely to the incompetence and inattention of our leaders, isn’t it about time we voters started looking more deeply into the qualifications of those whose hands are upon the nation’s helm? Shouldn’t we be inquiring into their credentials and backgrounds a little more thoroughly?

What does it say about us, as citizens of a free and democratic society, when we are willing to go on exposing ourselves and our children to avoidable dangers and hardships simply because we are too lazy to look into the qualifications of those who lead us or aspire to lead us?

Nevada's Misfit Child

2009-01-13T08:47:00.000-08:00

If one were to liken the cities and towns of Nevada to children in a family, Las Vegas most definitely would be Nevada’s problem child.

While Nevada’s cities generally are proper, practical and benevolent, Las Vegas is vulgar, flamboyant and self-centered. While Nevada’s cities generally are sincere, sensitive and friendly, Las Vegas is artificial, crass and pitiless. In short, Las Vegas is the kid brother who outgrew his family’s frontier values and roots as well as his britches.

One has only to be the right mixture of historian and psychologist, however, to understand how this bitter misfortune befell our otherwise upstanding family. Simply put, Las Vegas doesn’t fit in because its past is rooted not in Nevada but in Arizona.

When Nevada was admitted to the Union in 1864 its southern boundary was not set as it is today. The southern portion of what is now Nye County and all of what is now Clark County were part of the Arizona Territory.

In 1866 Congress generously offered to Nevada an unsightly horn-shaped expanse of rock and sand that was protruding awkwardly from Arizona’s northwest corner. The territory was optimistically calling this unproductive and revolting tract of unsettled dust Mojave County. As there was no comparable horn poking out of the other side of Arizona, it is supposed Congress thought the uncouth young territory needed some judicious trimming.

In 1867 Nevada’s legislature, at the urging of Governor Blasdel, said yes to Congress’ kind invitation. The jagged and appalling bump was then severed from Arizona, over anguished shrieks of protest, and grafted onto Nevada’s posterior. Congress, ever in search of balance and symmetry, was now well satisfied. Arizona, on the other hand, felt betrayed, and grew sullen and moody.

In the early 1900s a railroad was constructed across the furthermost reaches of southern Nevada. Out of that promiscuous and frenzied merger of steel rails and former Arizona dirt Las Vegas was born. Eventually the homely and precocious village grew into a city, and because its parentage was murky and dubious, it developed mental problems and went through an identity crisis. In order to prove it was Nevada’s most sophisticated and successful city, it has for many years been over-compensating and behaving like a fool.

One, of course, does not like to speak unkindly of a family member, but there in a nutshell you have it, the gruesome tale of how Arizona Territory lost a hideous antler and how Las Vegas, Nevada’s misfit child, was born out of it.

Unfortunately the story does not end there. Now our malignant sibling to the south wants to greedily siphon water from other areas of the state to continue its excessive and wanton lifestyle. And it is making frightening progress.

So what can we do? What steps can decent Nevadans take to stop this unrestrained fiend, this malevolent monster we once called a brother?

There remains to us one tempting solution, a long shot, to be sure, but one that must be seriously considered by all respectable Nevadans.

If the citizens of Arizona are willing to take it back, we could return to them that now festering, ghastly bulge they formerly and proudly were calling Mojave County.

Individuals

2009-01-06T19:37:00.000-08:00

A nation is composed of individuals. If those individuals are strong and enterprising, the nation is strong and enterprising. On the other hand, if the na-tion is comprised of weak, sluggish individ-uals, the nation itself is weak and sluggish.

With that in mind, one might expect govern-ment to be fully en-gaged in a determined effort to cultivate strong, capable individuals. After all, in a competitive and often ruthless world, it would seem absurd and irrational to be doing otherwise.

So why is our government doing otherwise? Why is our government so intent upon tempering or removing all of life’s realities and challenges, all the things that make individuals strong and resilient? Why is our government ceaselessly devising programs aimed at reducing the vigor, stamina and hardiness of its individual citizens? Why is our government so bent upon creating an incompetent and enfeebled society? Don’t our leaders, our highly paid public servants in Washington, see that government assistance can be carried to the point where it is hindering us more than it is helping us? Can’t they see that by continuing to implement these unsound policies they are undermining the very security of our nation?

Americans, as we are all aware, have never been ordinary individuals. Historically they have been daring and determined individuals. We must remember that we are the children of individuals who crossed a dangerous sea in fragile boats to come to a new and untamed land. We are the children of individuals who stood up to and fought a mighty nation to gain freedom and independence. We are the children of individuals who traversed mountains and deserts to find better opportunities for themselves and their families. We are the children of individuals who fought two world wars, not to preserve our nation alone but to rescue the entire world from the grip of tyranny. We are the children of individuals who voluntarily and unflinchingly faced harsh realities and difficult challenges, and grew stronger because of it. Do we want to be remembered as the generation that abandoned that path, that discarded those proud and rich traditions?

I certainly don’t. And if you don’t either, it’s time we started saying no thanks to government. It’s time we started squarely facing life’s uncertainties and challenges. It’s time we started being accountable for our actions. It’s time we began making our own way again, as individuals.

The survival of our nation depends on it.

Until You Need It Again

2008-12-30T08:32:00.000-08:00

Now that Christmas is over, there are a few things that need to be taken care of as you make the burden-some transition back to normal life. 1.) Strip the house and tree of all decorations and ornaments. 2.) Stuff them any old way you can back into their dusty storage boxes and stow them in the garage. 3.) Take the now naked and bewildered looking tree out to the curb so the sanitation crew can properly dispose of it. 4.) Push your “Christmas Spirit” to the very back of your mind where it will be well out of the way until you need it again next season.

Happy New Year!

Blessed are the Pure in Heart...

2008-12-23T08:15:00.000-08:00

Many years ago on a still and starry night, lowly shepherds were tending their flock in a grassy meadow high above a small village. Only the soft rustling of the wind and the occasional bleating of a lamb interrupted the silence and serenity that blanketed the land.

What the shepherds did not know, indeed, no one knew, was that in the village far below, in a dimly lit stable, a miracle of supreme importance had occurred. It was so significant, in fact, that an angel, encompassed with the dazzling radiance of God’s glory, was sent forth from heaven to declare the extraordinary news.

But the angel did not go, as might have been expected, to the high and the mighty or to the rich and the powerful; instead the angel went to the humble shepherds, the herdsmen who were faithfully watching over their flock by night, high above the village.

Not surprisingly, the sudden appearance of an angel greatly frightened the coarsely dressed and timid shepherds. But the angel, seeing their fear, said to them: “Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Some might ask: Why were the shepherds, of all people, visited by the angel and the heavenly multitude? Why were these unrefined sheepherders extended so special an invitation to see the Christ child?

This is only a guess, but perhaps God wanted to recognize them as the very epitome of good shepherds, shepherds who faithfully and valiantly look after their flock, whatever the danger to themselves. But He may have seen within them something more, something that truly is rare and exceptional among men.

He may have peered deep into their hearts and saw that they were pure.

Merry Christmas!

So Long As There Are Virginias

2008-12-16T07:26:00.000-08:00

We are approach-ing Christ-mas, and in light of some things the federal govern-ment has been doing of late, I thought it might be appropriate to clear up, especially for all you hopeful but wavering Virginias out there, a few growing and insidious misconceptions about this special season.

First, there is indeed a Santa Claus. Make no mistake about that. But the authentic Santa Claus is not the federal government. The real Santa Claus is that rotund, jovial fellow who personifies the true spirit of giving. He is that rosy cheeked old gentleman who lives at the north pole, and who employs a legion of highly skilled elves, each one happily and incessantly engaged in the production of toys. He is that bewhiskered and boisterous character who magically circles the globe every Christmas Eve in a sleigh drawn by eight reindeer. He is one of our most endearing and charming symbols of Christmas. He is jolly old St. Nick, and he has been lighting up the eyes of children for generations.

Second, there is indeed a Savior. Make no mistake about that. But the authentic Savior is not the federal government. The authentic Savior is the Babe born in a stable who was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. He is not a symbol of Christmas, He is Christmas. Furthermore, His gift of salvation is available to all, not just to a well connected few in the banking and auto industries. And His is not a fleeting and temporary salvation, it is lasting and eternal. He does not lie; indeed, He is the great bearer of truth. His love for us is not superficial and calculating, it is genuine. He is Christ the Lord, our Redeemer, and He has been lifting the spirits of the downcast and disheartened for 2000 years.

During this holiday season it might be beneficial to remember, Virginia, that there are genuine sources of hope, comfort, joy and contentment. But the federal government is not among those sources. In fact, the things that bring to us the most solace and happiness, at this time of the year or any time of the year, are often the things we can neither see nor touch. They are the treasured images and deeply held convictions we keep safely tucked away in the securest recesses of our hearts and souls.

No Virginia, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are not Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus. And they most assuredly are not saviors or redeemers of the world, as they often portray themselves to be. They have absolutely nothing in common with Santa Claus and the only characteristic they share with the Almighty is that they too giveth and taketh away. But be of good cheer, Virginia, for Harry and Nancy can give and take only those things that are transient and temporary, not the things that truly matter, not the precious things you keep tightly locked in your heart.

One final thought, Virginia. One that I want you to remember forever. If House Speakers and Senate Majority Leaders were ever permitted to pose as Santa Claus or our beloved Savior, even briefly, the world would very quickly and most certainly deteriorate into a grim and despairing place. Why, such a turn of events might even set off a rapid return to the dark ages! So don’t ever let a politician beguile you into believing, no matter how convincing or kindly he or she may appear to be, that they are now Santa Claus, or that they have displaced and superseded the true Redeemer of the world. For so long as there are bona fide Virginias in the world, people like yourself who genuinely yearn to believe in real generosity, love and compassion, these slippery charlatans can never succeed in carrying out their villainous ambitions.

The Earth is God's

2008-12-09T09:31:00.000-08:00

Whenever we get to thinking the world is unrav-eling fast, it is help-ful to remember that God created the world and that He undoubtedly has a plan for it. After all, it is hard to imagine God going to the trouble of creating something, like a world, for example, that He wasn’t going to keep an eye on and look after. At least until its purpose was accomplished. And He surely must have known that the moment He put people on it, He was imperiling it.

We may fuss about the world and its future, but I suppose things are going to wind up about the way God thought they would. And whatever it was He was hoping to gain from all His trouble, I suppose He will net about what He expected.

But if God’s got this whole planet in the palm of His hand, does that mean we’re just along for the ride? Some say yes and some say no, but if we can learn from our mistakes, hadn’t we ought to at least try to make a difference? Granted, we may not affect the outcome much, but what could it hurt if we came to our senses a little and tried to make the world slightly better?

Sure, the earth is God’s, but He’s letting us live here, so why not try to be more thoughtful tenants?

Join the Cause!

2008-12-02T08:50:00.000-08:00

The America of our ancestors is slipping away; however, we must understand that victory always goes to those who have planned, prepared and followed through.

Ours may be a government of the people, by the people and for the people, but it will remain our government only in so far as we are willing to do whatever is necessary to keep it in our hands. What is most necessary, and always has been, is to be actively and sincerely engaged in all our political duties as citizens, the most fundamental of those duties being the development of a thorough understanding of why our government is vastly superior to all others. If we are incapable of appreciating the true value of something, then we may thoughtlessly bargain it away in exchange for something of lesser value.

Any free government, including our own, is constantly exposed to various destructive influences. In the maintenance of government, citizens either stay ahead of these damaging forces or their government, by default or neglect, is gradually transformed into something else. Sadly, at the present time it would appear that the forces earnestly engaged in transforming our government into something else are much more dedicated to the task of reconfiguring it than we are to the task of preserving it.

What we lack, and what the forces of destruction have, is an absolute devotion to a cause. They have a goal. They have studied and analyzed ways and means of achieving it. And they never let up. And what’s more, they will succeed if they are not stopped.

But to stop them, we too must become committed to a cause, utterly and unwaveringly committed to it. Our cause must be the noble cause of keeping our government safely in our hands and the hands of our children, where it rightfully belongs and where our Founders intended it to be.

If we wish to succeed, however, we must shape ourselves into a force mightier and more skillful than the one that is marshaled against us. Each of us must gain a full understanding and appreciation of our unique political landscape, and where all the vital points are on that landscape. These crucial points may be discovered in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the various writings of the Founders as well as the political thinkers they drew upon. These documents and writings lay out the strategic strongholds, the high ground and the bulwarks the enemy will need to take in order to subdue us. They already have seized or neutralized many critical positions, and these actions have given them a distinct and powerful advantage. We must educate ourselves so that we may recognize and understand more fully their ruinous plans, so that we may see and anticipate their upcoming blows and strikes, and like good soldiers be positioned to repel them and stop them.

The time for being disengaged and ill-informed is over. Our fight is not the fight to secure for ourselves the so-called good things of life--spacious homes, luxury automobiles and designer clothing. This is the bigger fight. This is the fight to prevent ruthless tyrants, supported by a virtual army of duped and mindless minions, from making slave of us and our posterity.

Remember, any cause devoid of dedicated supporters is a lost cause. Please support the cause of freedom!

If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose that freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that, too.
--Somerset Maugham

There Is None Better

2008-11-25T15:23:00.000-08:00

Govern-ments can be placed roughly into two broad classes: those that trust their citizens and those that do not. Governments that trust their citizens want to include them fully in the decision-making process. Governments that do not trust their citizens want to exclude them entirely from the decision-making process. This is because the leaders of oppressive regimes are elitist who always believe they know what is best for ordinary people like you and me. And besides, oppression is a highly profitable enterprise for the oppressor and his gang of cronies and henchmen.

It is only natural, however, for human beings to want some level of control over their destiny, so most normal people, if given a choice, will gravitate toward the former class of government.

Of all the democratic governments in the world there is none better than the one we fortunate Americans have inherited. Our government not only provides mechanisms for real citizen involvement but it also offers us a great many personal freedoms. And what’s most remarkable of all is that the privileges and freedoms we enjoy and often take for granted are guaranteed in writing.

But liberty is not sustained merely through the preservation of a few old documents at the nation’s capital. It also requires the people to faithfully preserve the spirit that brought those documents into existence in the first place. That spirit consists of three essential human qualities: a sense of self-worth, self-confidence and self-determination. It is a spirit that boldly proclaims to government: “We made you. You are our creation. You were created to serve us, not the other way around. Stay in your place.”

Make no mistake about it, masters will always rise up, even in a democratic society, if citizens exhibit even the slightest willingness to be controlled and dominated. The weak and timid invite oppressors and oppression. In fact, one might go so far as to say that the weak and timid form the fertile, nurturing soil in which oppressors take root and grow. On the other hand, a nation of assertive, self-reliant citizens make a poor soil for the production of tyrants.

If we wish to remain free, if we wish to preserve the government we inherited and are so fortunate to have, we must rekindle and hold fast to that special spirit that blazed so fiercely in the hearts and souls of our freedom-loving ancestors.

On this Thanksgiving day, let us be truly grateful for the freedoms so liberally provided to us under our unique system of government, and let us offer up a sincere prayer to God to bless our land and all its citizens.

Political Pollution

2008-11-18T12:02:00.000-08:00

I am told by Al Gore and others that our planet is warming. This may be so. The planet has a long history of climatic ups and downs. As recently as 13,000 years ago, for example, a massive lake covered a large portion of what is currently northwestern Nevada. It’s gone now, but the area it once occupied is presently populated with thousands of happy, thriving people. And many of them do not know or care that they are living on the bottom of a dried up lake.

I am fully aware that the pollutants we daily spew into the atmosphere are damaging our planet. The stuff that comes out of the tailpipes of cars, after all, is poison. But what is also troubling to me is the noxious stream of virulent sludge that oozes every day from the mouths of unprincipled, power-hungry politicians. That too is poison. That too is deadly. We must understand that misguided, opportunistic politicians are every bit as dangerous to the world as climate change is. And personally, I’d rather take my chances with the unknowns associated with climate change.

Even if I thought politicians had the best of intentions, which I don’t, most of them are clearly a bunch of bumbling idiots, ill-equipped and ill-suited for taking on any serious or important tasks. They have tried for 75 years to manage the nation’s economy. And look where we’re at. Now they want us to turn climate management over to them. What do these pompous fools take us for?

If we are sincerely interested in survival, what we must recognize is that global warming is not our most immediate problem. Our most immediate concern is to understand, appreciate, revive and preserve our great nation’s heart--the Constitution. Nowhere else in the world does such an extraordinary and precious document exist. To preserve it, we will need to participate fully and faithfully in every upcoming election, and methodically cull from high office our most toxic politicians, those who are steadily and maliciously injecting vile, anti-American poisons into our political system. These polluters must be quickly and systematically replaced, replaced with true, freedom-loving Americans, principled men and women who cherish America’s rich and noble heritage. Then, when we have cleaned up the filth that has been defiling and destroying our political environment, we can begin addressing our climate problems, and do it in a manner that preserves our national sovereignty and keeps us from being swallowed up by a rapacious and despotic leviathan.

We simply cannot permit our political leaders to continue violating and ignoring the ingeniously conceived political principles contained in our Constitution. We simply cannot permit our political leaders to continue transforming limited government into unlimited government. We simply cannot permit our political leaders to further contaminate and degrade our beloved and long-held political ideals. If we do, we’re setting ourselves up for a disaster, a disaster that will likely overtake us long before global warming does.

Remember the insightful words of Lord Acton: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Our Founders fully understood this critically important aspect of human nature. You see their understanding of it in nearly every paragraph of the Constitution. We, the current trustees of the United States of America, must never loose sight of what a valuable and irreplaceable national treasure our Constitution is. Our Constitution, carefully designed and crafted by wise men, is what makes our nation unique among all the nations of the world. Our Constitution is the vital barrier that stops oppressive and tyrannical influences from entering our democratic system of government.

If we continue to allow unscrupulous politicians to punch holes in it and break it down, our country will soon be like a world without an ozone layer.

Hey, that gives me an idea. I wonder if we could persuade Al Gore, with all his political might and expertise, to get involved in a “save” the Constitution campaign?

Well, it was just a thought.

Veterans Day

2008-11-11T06:28:00.000-08:00

Today is Veterans Day. Our veterans are the courageous men and women who, over the many decades, have been called upon to settle our nation’s most serious disagreements with foreign powers, disagreements that often were the result of a poorly formulated foreign policy and defective diplomacy. When the faulty work of diplomats and politicians breaks down and fails, as it frequently does, the armed forces are called into the breech to lay their precious lives on the line and to put things right again. But the men and women of the armed forces, unlike the politicians, are expected to succeed, for their supreme effort constitutes the final roll of the dice. Upon their skill, courage and determination hangs the nation’s fate.

Consider what took place immediately following the end of World War I, the “war to end all wars.” When that protracted struggle was won at great cost in human lives, a “peace” treaty was drafted by a collection of career politicians and diplomats from the conquering nations, men thought to be the most experienced and capable of the age, yet their treaty contained within it the seeds of the next war. In the ensuing years, further war seeds were heedlessly scattered and sown through a series of naïve disarmament agreements and severe cuts in military spending, cuts that left us wholly unprepared when war finally fell upon us. The war that came as a result of those tragic missteps is now referred to as World War II. World War II completely engulfed the very next generation of young Americans and consumed many of them. Aside from the cosmic cataclysm that gave birth to our planet, there never has been a greater upheaval.

During and following the Second World War, decisions were made by our political leaders that led us into the so-called Cold War, with notable and bloody flair ups in hotspots like Korea and Vietnam. And at this very moment, we are desperately locked in two savage foreign conflicts, one in Iraq, another in Afghanistan.

Today we pause briefly to salute those who have fought, and those who now are fighting, our nation’s wars. They, old soldiers and new soldiers alike, seldom question or debate the faulty diplomacy that placed them on the field of battle. All that matters to them is that their duly elected and appointed leaders called them to serve in a perilous hour, and to their everlasting credit, they valiantly and unhesitatingly answered the call.

Let us all pray that someday, in the not too distant future, our political leaders will develop the same sense of duty, honor and genuine patriotism that has always been so nobly and abundantly displayed in our brave fighting men and women.

Having a Form of Godliness

2008-10-29T10:32:00.000-07:00

Those of us born in the 1930s and 40s came along at the tail end of an era, a bright and special era, an era in which children were still taught to love their country, to admire its Founders, and to revere the Constitution. Many of us took those lessons to heart, but now we find ourselves increasingly at odds with an imposing and ever-growing army of powerful and influential people--people in the highest levels of government, people who manage the country’s largest news organizations, people who operate our nation’s most prestigious universities.

It seems as though a vast and increasing number of slick, fashionable and well educated people believe that patriotism is nothing but foolish sentimentality, that the Constitution is a burdensome and inconvenient impediment to progress, and that the 18th Century beliefs of the Founders are now hopelessly outdated.

Yet these same people insist that they are genuinely concerned for us, especially in these difficult times, and want only to make us all secure and happy. Mind you, they want to dismantle all the priceless safeguards to our liberties, but they want us to be secure and happy. In other words, instead of placing our trust in a written contract, the Constitution, they want us to place our trust solely in them and their word.

But to those of us in my generation, this kind of talk sounds dubious, dangerous and frightening. According to what we were taught in those little one- and two-room rural schools, this is just the kind of devious chicanery the Founders were hoping to steer their posterity clear of when they wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in the first place. Of course, when we attended school our dedicated and self-sacrificing teachers didn’t have access to the latest educational theories put out by the federal government, so they admittedly were working under a severe and serious handicap.

Nevertheless, call me backward and old-fashioned if you must, but I’m not buying the clearly self-serving tripe these un-American radicals are dishing out. I don’t believe for one minute that their interest in our welfare is genuine. I believe it’s thoroughly counterfeit and utterly bogus, as well as insulting and disgusting. I believe it is nothing more than a clever and deadly pretense, a ruse, if you will, possessing only the crudest outward appearance of authentic concern and compassion. Their idea of charity is seizing your money through taxation and transferring it to someone else, someone who in their opinion is in greater need of it than you are. Is that compassion? No! Let’s call it what it is, it’s socialism! And socialism isn’t what this country’s about. It’s repugnant and alien to us. Strong, proud, self-reliant men and women don’t need or want socialism. A socialist is not, and can never be, a true American.

I don’t give a hoot what presidential candidates and senate majority leaders say. I couldn’t care less what big city newspaper editors and television commentators think. And I’m certainly not interested in what the distinguished head of the political science department at Harvard University believes. I think we’d be damned foolish to let go of any portion of the Constitution. Those Founders were an extremely wise group of men. Their theories of government are still valid and will continue to hold us in good stead. All we have to do is wholeheartedly return to those beliefs and ideals, and embrace once again that independent and self-sufficient spirit that made Americans and America great.

We The People

2008-10-28T10:38:00.000-07:00

In re-sponse to the recent mortgage and credit crisis, our govern-ment has taken a series of dramatic steps. If one uses the Constitution and the political beliefs of the Founders as a measure of what comprises the legitimate powers of government, these steps are another serious and dangerous departure from time-honored and revered principles.

We all know there is corruption and incompetence in government. We all know there is unrestrained greed and depravity in many areas of business. But we also need to recognize that as citizens we too are failing to measure up to our full responsibilities. We too share much of the blame for what is going on around us.

In America the will of the people underlies our political system and its institutions. That is a fortunate thing, but when we neglect to forthrightly express our will, the government goes forward without our guidance. And a misguided government is a dysfunctional government--ponderous, pernicious and dreadful, as we all are now witnessing.

As citizens we are guilty of electing and re-electing, irrespective of party, presidents and members of congress who, in the absence of corrective input from us, have virtually set our political and economic systems ablaze. How much more apparent does it have to become? Is not the current man-made conflagration evidence enough of their malfeasance, negligence and incompetence? Must we experience further horrors at their hands to be convinced?

If our nation is to escape complete destruction, we, average Americans like you and me, must become involved--right now and in a big way! Our house is on fire and the arsonists are pretending to be the fire department. Their method of fighting a fire is to throw more fuel on it. They want to use the same combustibles that ignited it to put it out. What does that reveal, despite what they are telling us, about their true intentions?

Perhaps the supercilious and condescending elitists who rule in Washington believe we are all hopelessly stupid. Perhaps they arrogantly believe they can do much better without our input than with it. But anyone who has eyes can see they are leading us down a slippery and perilous path. Look around you. Who is going to bring this great country back on course if we don’t? We are all that is left. We are all that stands between these bloated putrescent politicians and total destruction.

If there is going to be meaningful change in America, if we as a nation are going to set a true course back to stability and safety, we can’t entrust such a vital job to career politicians. We the people must initiate it and carry through with it. The solution to the grave problems that presently beset us lies in our becoming better educated and informed, and in becoming much more involved in political affairs. If we as citizens and taxpayers don’t know what constitutes sound political and economic principles, how are we going to provide essential and worthwhile guidance to our elected officials? And how will we know if they are devising and implementing programs that truly are in our best interest?

It’s time we understood that not every clown jumping at the chance to serve is fit to serve. We need to do a much better job of monitoring and grading our leaders and screening candidates. We might begin by demanding simple honesty and some commonsense.

We elect these people to be public servants, which implies that they work for and answer to the public. However, a great many of them, once elected, come to see themselves not as humble servants but as superior beings, far wiser and more intelligent than the simple people who put them in office.

The hour has come. Time is short. Beginning today, and without delay, we must begin the crucial process of culling out these pompous jackasses and replacing them with a new generation of patriotic, pro-America leaders, leaders who love their country more than money, power and fame.

“Don’t interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard to our liberties.”
--Abraham Lincoln

The Arcane and Deadly Workings of Government

2008-10-15T11:47:00.000-07:00

Note: Please be aware that certain key elements in the following brief explanation of the recent mortgage catastrophe and its causes may not make sense to you unless you're a seriously impaired career politician like the smiling man on the right.

Now that the fog of con-fusion has dissipated to a degree, we are learning that the origin of the mortgage debacle essentially comes down to one thing. Admittedly, there were other factors, but if you follow the problem upstream, this is what you find.

A number of years ago, in an effort to put lower-income families into homes they couldn’t actually afford, congress enacted a bill entitled the Community Reinvestment Act.

Whatever congress’ intentions may have been at the time, whether well meaning or not, this ill-conceived act induced a lot of banks, with the dubious assistance of co-culprits Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, into making a great many subprime loans. A subprime loan is a loan made to someone who really didn’t qualify. The loans went through anyway, however, because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, at the behest of the federal government, were essentially guaranteeing them.

Then, as if this curious bill heavily laced with faulty economic theories was not dangerous enough in itself, something else happened that added to the problem and stoked the rising fever. Some of the banks swept up in this developing fiasco began doing innovative things on their own initiative. They began devising creative if not completely ethical ways of packaging and bundling these subprime loans and selling them off as investments to other unsuspecting banks. These shady shenanigans soon became standard operating procedure for several of the more unscrupulous banks and some of their employees began behaving almost as if they were on a mind-altering drug.

Yet surprisingly enough, even as the potential hazards inherent in all this risky wheeling and dealing were becoming more and more evident, congress did nothing, despite repeated and urgent warnings from within and from without.

So why did congress drag its feet? Perhaps members of congress simply decided that with so many of their constituents, from house flippers to bank presidents, believing they were getting rich in this unprecedented and astonishing housing boom, albeit an artificially created one, they ought not dispel the illusion but rather play things out a little longer. After all, when a party’s really rockin,’ why be a wet blanket? Right?

Now that the party’s over, however, and with the horrific results laid bare before us, we can see what congress REALLY did when it passed that poorly thought out and pestilent bill in the first place. In effect, that ill-advised act of congress injected into our nation’s economy what turned out to be a deadly virus, even though one of its intermediate manifestations was a delusional sense of euphoria in some of its eventual victims. Over the course of several years the harmful effects of that virus led to a massive accumulation of what we now are calling “toxic” debt, debt that ultimately proved to be so pernicious it poisoned the very heart of our nation’s economic system, killing some banks and lending institutions outright and leaving many others gravely ill.

And now to top off everything, we are being told that some of the banks that barely survived the ordeal, and were left crippled as a result, will be expertly and lovingly nursed back to health by the very government that poisoned them. And that, they say, will ultimately bring about a happy conclusion to this tragic tale.

I warned you this might not make sense.

A Season Gone But Not Lost

2008-09-22T09:06:00.000-07:00

The first frosty breaths of fall are spilling down from the frigid north and filling our high desert valleys with cool sparkling air. And as they do, brightly colored leaves, one by one, or in wind-driven throngs, plaintively release their grip and tumble to the ground. They are yielding to the implacable cycles of nature; they are letting go of summer. And just as the leaves have no choice but to let go, so too are we compelled to do likewise. We must release the past, savoring our warm memories of a golden summer, a once-in-a-lifetime summer that never will return, and enter the future. But before we brace ourselves for the onslaught of winter, let us pause to enjoy the splendors of autumn, for it too holds rich promise. It is a time of crisp, clear days, days made for wearing comfortable old shoes and frayed sweatshirts while out walking with a loved one. It is a time to curl up in a warm blanket on a blustery afternoon for a well-deserved nap. It is a time to lovingly preserve the things harvested from a scrupulously maintained garden. And if we make good use of those precious autumn days, we will leave them behind with tender recollections of a season gone but not lost. And it will be time to begin making the most of what is certain to be a special winter.

Where Does The Buck Stop?

2008-09-21T06:13:00.000-07:00

It is a frightening thing to contemplate, but it has become apparent in recent years that neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have the foresight, skill or courage to lead America. For quite sometime members of the two “contending” political parties, once elected, have failed to offer substantially different solutions to the problems facing our great nation. They are, to quote a homely old phrase, peas in a pod. They pretend to be different, but in reality their management styles, strategies, and ultimate goals are strikingly similar. What this leaves us with is essentially a one-party system masquerading as a two-party system. This unfortunate pretense is kept up for only one purpose, so that those running for office will have someone to sling mud at. The political sideshow is faithfully and carefully acted out during election years and the periods between to convince voters that there are still courageous fighters out there willing to wrestle with the forces of evil; namely, the other party. Unfortunately, when our “leaders” want only to while away their time producing and starring in senseless political dramas rather than assuming the role of statesman or stateswoman, bad things happen while they are thus engaged. For example, both Republicans and Democrats in congress sat by and watched as greedy and unscrupulous banks and mortgage companies created the worst economic catastrophe since the Wall Street Crash of 1929, even though both houses of congress have banking and financial services committees to monitor and oversee the activities of such institutions. Furthermore, our Republican President and his economic advisors, along with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board did the same thing. No one apparently saw this huge financial tidal wave approaching. No one apparently even had a hunch. Or if they did, no one possessed the economic savvy or political courage to step forward and do something about it before it evolved into a calamity. How could it be that a mounting financial debacle of this magnitude went unnoticed? Not surprisingly, there is not a single person in Washington willing to admit guilt. Rather, everyone there is scrambling around pointing fingers at each other. A tragic and costly economic misfortune has fallen upon the American people while our political “leaders” either slept or were intentionally looking away. And what is their response to all this now that it has happened? Arrogate to themselves vast powers not granted to them by the Constitution, and in the process replace, step by step, limited government with an all-reaching, all-powerful government. Only two conclusions can be drawn from such behavior. Either these people are a bunch of incompetent bunglers who don’t give a damn about principles, or they are a very crafty band of revolutionaries. Whatever the case may be, we can only guess where this latest ill-advised departure from sound political and economic principles will take us? Surely it will set another dangerous precedent, but will it save us? Temporarily, perhaps it will. But in the long run permitting the federal government to become heavily engaged in every aspect of our daily lives will prove unwise, just as our Founders knew and warned. The only real solution, as painful and inconvenient as it may seem, is for the people to wake up and gain control over themselves and their government, for although it apparently is not a widely known fact at this time, it must be remembered that in our unique and wisely formulated political system, the buck stops with us.

Gambling is Serious Business

2008-09-10T13:10:00.000-07:00

Contrary to what casino moguls would have you believe, casinos are not built to provide friendly and innocuous amusement to the public; they are designed and built with one goal in mind, to induce the unwary into throwing away precious time and money to enrich those with craftier minds. Be assured that no casino mogul would ever dream of doing with his time and money what he is inviting you to do. He has better things to do. He’s an important man, an executive. In his opinion squandering time and money is only for fools. And that’s where you come in. Casino moguls don’t believe in luck or chance. They're only interested in a sure thing. They have learned that one of the surest ways of becoming rich is not to indulge in hopeless, long-shot gambling themselves but rather to provide that opportunity to someone else. And they also know that while you are mindlessly emptying your pockets, you must be made to believe that you are having the time of your life. That is why their television ads always show young, vibrant, well-dressed couples laughing like kids on a carnival ride. That is also why they have clubs you can join, with members receiving “free” tee shirts bearing the casino’s name, so you will feel like you are part of an elite group, a group that is known, loved and always welcomed by the casino. Of course you’re known, loved and always welcomed by the casino. You’re making its owner/owners wealthy! Of course they’re willing to throw you a few crumbs occasionally. Of course they want you to think you’re someone special. But what they won’t show you are the scores of lonely senior citizens on fixed incomes, oxygen bottles at their sides, disposing of what little cash they have in the vain hope of hitting the big one that will put them on easy street. Or the compulsive gambler who gets his or her adrenaline rush, his or her high, endlessly trying to win that once-in-a-lifetime jackpot that will remove all their money woes, when in fact their money woes are caused by their gambling addiction. No, they won’t show you that seamy, pathetic side of the casino environment. That would be bad for business. And gambling, to a casino executive, is serious business, not mere fun and frivolity, as it is portrayed to you. Make no mistake about it, casino moguls are cold, calculating entrepreneurs who waste neither time nor money in their single-minded pursuit of wealth. So take a lesson from them. Get serious, and don’t waste your time or money either.

The Right To Bear Arms

2008-09-03T09:31:00.000-07:00

The first unalien-able right listed by Thomas Jefferson in the Decla-ration of Indepen-dence is the right to life. It is placed first in the hierarchy of man’s rights because no right is more important to mortal man than that one, for certainly when a man is deprived of life, all the other earthly rights he might have possessed are forever lost to him. But even if the right to life is recognized and acknowledged by a government, as our government has done, of what practical benefit is that recognition if the government nonetheless removes from a man’s grasp the very implements necessary to realistically preserve and defend the life he is said to be entitled to? Some might argue that it is enough that the police possess firearms to defend us. But where does a police officer’s right to employ a firearm in the defense of human life actually come from? Who bestows that special privilege upon him? Though it may be surprising to some, in America that privilege comes to a police officer through none other than the people themselves. Many years ago, during the formation of our governments, federal, state and local, we the people empowered our elected officials and representatives to give to any duly appointed police officer the right to use a gun in our behalf to defend the lives of others. At that time, a time that is now all but forgotten, the people granted to government the power to use lethal force to defend human life. They were able to grant that power to government because they possessed it themselves. It naturally resided within them--and always had and always will--by virtue of their unalienable right to life, their unalienable right to save themselves from death at the hands of a violent person or persons. What a great tragedy it would be, if we as citizens, or our government, ever forgot where our government’s just powers come from, if suddenly the government believed it could deny to its citizens their unalienable rights, rights that are not now, nor ever were, theirs to give or take. Remember, dear citizens, God gave you life; the government did not. It was God, your creator, who placed value upon it. So don’t let the government ever tell you that you do not have the right to defend your life by any means whatsoever, or that you must rely solely upon your local police department or other government agencies for your protection. That just isn’t so. If our government, the one created and handed down to us by our freedom-loving ancestors, the one that worked so well until about 60 years ago, can no longer control crime and the proliferation of guns among criminals; if that government cannot ensure and safeguard our right to life, what business does it have denying those of us who are law-abiding citizens the means of defending ourselves on equal terms against criminals? Is it not reasonable to suppose that whenever any government cannot protect its citizens from criminal elements within society that they may revert back to their unalienable right to life as justification for defending themselves? We don’t need the government’s permission to do that. With or without the government’s blessing we possess that right. As Thomas Jefferson wrote, we are “endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights.” Those rights, granted to us by God Himself, cannot be withheld, rescinded or nullified by mere human governments. All we need to possess those rights is the courage to claim them and the willingness to defend them.

In God's Natural World

2008-08-02T12:39:00.000-07:00

One of the interesting ironies of life is that all too often those who take the “low road” arrive at the top, while those who take the “high road” do not. We see this all around us-- in businesses large and small, in every strata of government, in the entertainment industry, and most certainly in politics. But why is this so? Why is it that cheating and scheming are better strategies for achieving success in the world than are honesty and hard work? Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that we live not in one world but two: the social, financial and political world created by man and the natural world created by God. And it’s quite obvious to most that God’s world, for sheer elegance and consistency, has a decided edge over man’s. Man’s world, after all, is crude and disordered, while God’s is ingeniously structured and harmonious. God’s in anchored in truth; man’s is anchored in error. And because man’s world is anchored in error, we live in a condition of perpetual unsteadiness, where principles move and shift according to the needs and whims of the hour. Which brings to mind a provocative and frightening question, what if man controlled nature and the elements? How would it be, for example, if congress decided how much force gravity would exert? Or what if the freezing point of water was determined from month to month by a committee of scientists appointed by the president? How would we maintain any sense of order or stability in such a world? Let us therefore thank God that there still are some things we can depend on; that there still remain unchanging principles beyond the reach of man. And let us be grateful, too, that in God’s natural world the high road always leads to the top, and favors only those willing to put forth a sincere and honest effort.

Independence Day

2008-07-03T20:12:00.000-07:00

As an exercise in contrasts think for a moment of the political atmosphere that prevailed on and around July 4, 1776. Now compare that image with today’s political atmosphere. Do you see a startling difference? If you don’t, shame on you! You haven’t been paying attention. In 1776 noble and self-sacrificing men and women were struggling desperately to throw off the shackles of tyranny and establish liberty in America. Today a great many of our political leaders, Republicans and Democrats alike, are doing just the reverse. They are taking away those hard-won liberties and replacing them with an ever-growing number of stifling federal bureaucracies and agencies, each one accompanied by a chocking array of incomprehensible regulations and controls. And while they are doing it, they keep insisting that the expensive and bloated new government they are creating for us is our dearest friend, something not to be feared but rather an innocuous power that wants only to do what is best for us. But think about it. Is being innocuous really an inherent and fundamental trait of government? George Washington certainly didn’t think so. “Government,” wrote Washington, “is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master.” That is why our Founding Fathers wisely wrote a constitution setting forth clearly defined limits on the power of government. That is why they created a form of government that distributed and balanced those carefully defined powers among three separate branches. They knew that governments, if not carefully watched and restrained, are likely to become mischievous and dangerous. Especially if all power is permitted to fall into the hands of one person or an elite few. Most surely we believe governments should on occasion provide help for their citizens. But if we the people are to continue being the strong backbone of our republic and remain free, as the Founders envisioned us to be, we must resist every government intrusion into our lives, especially those that come to us disguised as a helping hand. For every time we accept unsolicited and unneeded assistance from the government we are empowering it and weakening ourselves. And if we don’t stop, one day we will find ourselves overwhelmed by it. On this Fourth of July I challenge each of you to make your country stronger and better by becoming a stronger and better citizen, a citizen who can look after him or herself, as well as one who can look after those he or she is responsible for. If you are willing to do that, you will be exhibiting the finest and best qualities of a true patriot. And little by little, if we all work together, we can reestablish those cherished and hard-won liberties the Founders always wanted us to have. Happy Independence Day!